<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>The Goddess of the Hunt by VathySkotadi</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28492773">The Goddess of the Hunt</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/VathySkotadi/pseuds/VathySkotadi'>VathySkotadi</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Little Witch Academia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Akko is fucking clueless, Gen, Heist, Post-Canon, Shiny Diana - Freeform, Tags May Change, kaito - Freeform, lots of headcanony stuff, phantom thief</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 04:27:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>55,544</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28492773</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/VathySkotadi/pseuds/VathySkotadi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Diana Cavendish has decided it's about time to take back what is rightfully hers. Her aunt Daryl sold basically everything of relevance the Cavendish Family had ever owned; a collection of Heirlooms that, independent of their magical powers—or lack thereof—spoke to the history and status her family once possessed.<br/>This heritage is not one Diana is willing to leave in the hands of anyone else, so under the guise of a phantom thief, she goes on a quest to steal them back.<br/>What will she lose in this path of crime? What friends or enemies will she make?<br/>And most importantly, what new side of herself will she unveil by partaking in such an unbecoming endeavour?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Diana Cavendish/Amanda O'Neill</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>60</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>48</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I know the premise of this fic is a bit on the sillier side, but if you let me run with it, I think I can give you an enjoyable story.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first time Atsuko Kagari saw the thief, her brain shut down.</p><p>She had recently bought—with the help of her parents—a Crystal Ball, like Lotte’s. It was basically a magic equivalent of a PC, and while she wasn’t too used to it, with Lotte making pointers and her own knowledge of how PCs worked, she could get by.</p><p>One day, while browsing youtube, she found on the trending tab something unbelievable: A video titled ‘Red-Gloved Thief caught red handed.’ The thumbnail consisted of a big red arrow pointing to a blurry figure against the night sky.</p><p>The figure was oddly reminiscent of Shiny Chariot, so of course Akko didn’t hesitate to click it.</p><p>And she was enraptured.</p><p>The video started a bit shaky, with someone clearly having taken their phone and activated the camera hastily. It was night on a location Akko didn’t quite recognize, but there was an old Victorian mansion there and a <em>lot</em> of lights, plus a number of police officers. The person taking the video was on a balcony across the street from the mansion, and it made it clear that the place was absurdly well guarded.</p><p>Everything was still for a moment.</p><p>Then a sudden flash of light and shouts came from the mansion, and the camera focused on it.</p><p>Breaking out of a stained-glass window on the second floor, the figure appeared. She dropped to the ground and rolled with perfect agility, proceeding without pause to run across the garden and towards the fence. A number of police officers on the garden itself saw her and tried to catch her, some even using taser guns, but she slipped past every single thing with the grace and elegance of a dancer.</p><p>When she reached the fence that looked too tall to surpass, she easily jumped three meters off the ground… and didn’t fall back. The red cape she was wearing flapped like a pair of wings that she used to propel herself even higher, which was followed by a beautiful white and red broom flying in from some place out of the camera and letting the figure gracefully land on it.</p><p>The police focused all of their lights on her.</p><p>The camera’s angle wasn’t the best: It caught her from the side, barely letting Akko see her face. But She could see what was important: The white and blue uniform, reminiscent of royalty. The red gloves and mask. The sash across her chest. The big witch hat with a massive ribbon on its side. The golden rapier-wand.</p><p>And the way the red cape flared, along with the woman’s blonde hair, as she raised in front of her a chest with something that wasn’t quite visible in the video.</p><p>Then she was off.</p><p>The video ended after showing a number of police cars trying to follow after the thief.</p><p>Akko put the ball down, blinking. Putting a hand to her chest, she realized it was pounding.</p><p>“That,” she whispered, “was <em>amazing.</em>” The way the woman moved, her style, her clear sense for drama. It was perfect.</p><p>After watching the video three more times, Akko started to research who the hell she was.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>You know this tweet that got around a while ago with Shiny Diana's design on it?<br/>https://twitter.com/hil8DieG0wrQ1Ei/status/1326642604524531712<br/>Well I decided to make a fanfic just based on the design. I think a bunch of us instantly got the idea of "phantom thief" due to the mask she's wearing (I saw a few people mention it at the time) and I thought it'd be fun to tackle that idea.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Diana looked down at Oscar Kuhn’s home, a building with a Victorian style about half the size of the Cavendish Mansion—square-ish, full of round angles and bay windows, with a couple of turrets, one tower and even a massive stained-glass window on the second floor—mentally preparing for the task ahead.</p><p>Unlike the previous two times, her calling card had been taken seriously. So it was that below, a dozen police cars surrounded the building, and many others swarmed it, examining every nook and cranny. Diana’s objective was a small chest in Oscar’s room. Sadly, the old man was paranoid, so the room was in the middle of the building. No windows to access it, no ventilation to slip through while transformed.</p><p>However, despite their best efforts, security hadn’t kept in mind the most important thing about Diana: Magic.</p><p>She took a deep breath. She strengthened her grip on the rapier-wand. She stared at the few visible stars for just a moment, wondering if her mother would approve of her actions.</p><p>Then she jumped off the broom that kept her in the air.</p><p>Her cape suddenly flared, stiffening with magic and letting her glide down with ease. The roof was, of course, also being guarded, but invisibility spells were not beyond Diana, despite how difficult they were to achieve. So it was that she landed on the middle of the tiled roof soundlessly, surrounded by guards—private ones, not police—with lanterns and batons. Her cape fluttered back down, and she took off. The spell wouldn’t last long, but she had the mansion’s blueprints memorized. The walking of the guards wasn’t as predictable as videogames would have you think, with them turning erratically, going up and down the gabled roof, and often coming in and out of view, using the tower as a hiding spot.</p><p>Diana slipped past every single one of them, jumping down to a balcony without much issue. The door was obviously locked and guarded from the inside, but that was not a problem. Diana made a flower pot fall—feeling only mildly sad for the plant— which caught the guard’s attention. He carefully stepped out into the balcony, baton raised for defense, and Diana slipped inside without him seeing her.</p><p>It was surprising how unprepared they were for her, given the fact that she presented herself as a ‘witch thief’ in her calling cards. One would think they’d at least try to prepare for magic shenanigans, but then again, normal society hadn’t yet readjusted to the return of magic.</p><p>The inside of the room was overly illuminated. Every lamp, light and even a muted TV were on. There wasn’t going to be a single dark spot in the entire house, was there?</p><p>The room had another guard besides the one now outside, which meant Diana couldn’t open the door by herself. So instead, she waited for a precise moment and knocked on it with the pattern she’d learnt from spying on the guards over the previous two hours. The leftover guard opened the door and again, and Diana slipped out just as she’d done previously.</p><p>The guard, obviously confused, stepped out into the corridor, frowning. In that moment, Diana knew, the cameras watching it had a single blind-spot that’d last fifteen seconds as they moved around. The only one she’d found and the only one she needed.</p><p>Her invisibility wore off just as she cast a spell to make herself look exactly like the guard—who turned face in shock. Before any sound left her mouth, Diana put her to sleep and then turned the body invisible. She would wake up in five minutes, anyways. Or less, if someone stumbled upon the body.</p><p>The corridors, white with dark wooden floors, were riddled with cameras. Behind her, light from the streets peered over the stained glass window, which might have been worth a second of inspection in any other circumstance. Diana walked to the end and turned a corner. The door to Oscar’s room was there… sealed with a grid gate and two guards at its front. There’d also be <em>four</em> guards inside the room, maybe even with Oscar himself.</p><p>Well, no problem.</p><p>The two guards, a man and a woman, turned to look at Diana, frowning. “What are you doing here?” Said the woman.</p><p>“We think we saw the thief,” Diana said in a conspiratorial tone. Her voice had, of course, changed to match that of the guard she’d impersonated. “I came here to warn you, but we don’t want to alarm her, so stay calm.”</p><p>“What is your code?” The man asked.</p><p>“One-four-eight-three-nine-six,” Diana recited. She’d, of course, figured who the guard she was going to impersonate was beforehand and learned all she could about her. “Just to be sure, what are yours?”</p><p>The two guards said theirs. Diana had no idea if they were correct, but she nodded appreciatively and turned the corner, presumably to go back to her post.</p><p>Here, there was no blind spot for the cameras, so performing any sort of magic would be too obvious. Luckily for her, she came prepared.</p><p>The bad thing about her fancy attire was that it had been hard to fit useful pockets into. That was when the idea struck her, and she modified a pocket-dimension bag, which was one of the rarest magical items on the planet, to look like it did now.</p><p>So she reached up, stuffing her hand into her ribbon, which likely looked like she was scratching her head on camera.</p><p>She took out two things from it. The first one, a smoke bomb, which she’d need later. Second, a small fairy in a bottle. Diana freed the little fellow, a dark blob with tiny legs and round white eyes. It had been easy to strike a deal with it. All Diana needed to do was let it feed on her shadow, which she’d do right now. “There you go, little one,” she said, putting the bottle down on the floor. The fairy didn’t hesitate to open its mouth and bite into Diana’s shadow.</p><p>It hurt more than Diana had expected. It wasn’t physical pain, but the intense discomfort she felt with each bite was almost more than she could handle, something akin to knowing a needle is about to stab you, but it never happening. A horrible thrill, exhausting.</p><p>A few bites later, though, the fairy burped, satisfied.</p><p>Then it grew.</p><p>It only took about five seconds for the fairy to reach its new size and form: That of Diana herself, thief disguise included, only dark and with those round white eyes now unsettlingly big. The great thing about fairies like this one, though, was that they didn’t show on cameras. Diana herself had a spell for that, but techno-magic was easily her weakest subject, so the spell didn’t last very long for her. “Now please, go and distract the guards at the door.”</p><p>Diana’s shadow nodded, taking off to do as instructed. The guards shouted, and after a moment’s hesitation followed the shadow.</p><p>Running around the corner a few seconds later, Diana reached the iron grid and paused for a single moment. Shouting wouldn’t help, this gate wouldn’t open by any means until tomorrow. By that time, Diana would have failed.</p><p>It was a big room. Even with five people in it, they should be able to breathe mostly fresh until morning, if they remained calm and collected. Diana had no way in.</p><p>No peaceful way, in anyways.</p><p>First step: She cast the spell that would hide her from cameras for a small while.</p><p>Second step: She backed a few paces from the door and pointed her rapier-wand at the knob. “Murowa!”</p><p>The hard, sturdy wooden door suddenly snapped open. Diana jumped, transforming herself into a snake for half a second and then turning back once inside the room—action that also destroyed her illusion. Four guards guarded a bed, and on the bed, an old man was waking up from sleeping. Next to him was the chest.</p><p>“Oscar Kuhn, you attained that item through dishonest means, taking advantage of a weakened family to gain a historical Heirloom that is of no real worth to you,” Diana said with a calm yet angry voice, pointing her rapier to the floor, resting her other hand on her hip. “Hand over the scroll or face my wrath.”</p><p>“What are you fools doing?” The old man said to his men, his bald head growing red. “Get her!”</p><p>The four guards raised their batons and ran towards her.</p><p>Diana threw her smoke bomb.</p><p>The smoke got the guards coughing, but Diana quickly created a small bubble of magic around her head. She moved towards the bed, her steps firm but gracious as she slipped past the guards and tripped them to gain a few seconds. With a jump she reached the bed old-fashioned bed, her cape flaring as she came down on the very footboard, where she remained standing with perfect balance, her rapier pointed at Oscar himself. “Hand me the scroll or suffer the consequences,” she said, her eyes narrowing.</p><p>The man, now scared out of his mind, grabbed the chest and offered it to her.</p><p>Diana reached into her ribbon, taking out and throwing a suitcase onto the bed as she took the chest.</p><p>Then she bolted.</p><p>She didn’t pause, hitting the gate’s panel with a spell for it to open as she ran. She dodged the guards who had already figured the shadow had been a distraction and ran the way she’d come from. When turning the corner, she had only half a second to react to the guard who’d been on the balcony ready to attack her. With a swift flourish of her rapier, the man was disarmed and then she jumped over him in a pirouette that was probably unneeded but added to the intimidating effect she tried to achieve, her cape spinning around with her after she hit the floor and kept running.</p><p>Raising her wand, she cast a protection spell around her body and aimed straight for the stained glass panel.</p><p>She broke through it, falling from the second floor. It was a good thing she’d learned Chariot’s body enhancement spell, so she could fall graciously and roll to avoid hurting herself. Barely slowing down, her pace kept steady as she ran through an admittedly gorgeous garden towards the fence. The policemen outside moved too slowly for her enhanced reflexes. A couple tried aiming taser guns at her, but she could dodge those just as easily as everything else. Real bullets, though, could be a problem.</p><p>She reached the fence and jumped. On the other side, police were ready to catch her.</p><p>But she didn’t fall.</p><p>Her cape fluttered, reacting to her desires. It shifted, momentarily turning into a pair of wings that managed to boost her just high enough for her to whistle, calling for her broom, which came at an incredible speed. She landed on it, turning to face the mansion.</p><p>The police focused every light available in the vicinity on her. Diana posed: That was part of the whole shtick. Make a point, be dramatic. She showed the chest, opening it so that they could see what was inside.</p><p>Then she tapped her broom, and she was off into the night. The police tried to pursue her, but it was a futile effort. Her new broom was faster than standard ones, and her ability to go over buildings was what made it truly impossible to follow her.</p><p>As she flew, storing the chest on her ribbon, she took a deep breath, smiling as wind hit her face and the cape fluttered behind her. She’d chastise anyone surfing on a broom like she was doing right now. It was dangerous and stupid and <em>freeing.</em> During moments like these, she could understand why Amanda was so determined to break every broom safety rule.</p><p>But that wasn’t the only reason for her joy. Another job perfectly pulled off, which meant another heirloom retrieved. Who knew? Maybe this new adventure of her would be easier than she’d expected.</p><p> </p><p>Diana knew she had messed up as soon as breakfast arrived.</p><p>In usual fashion, she, Hannah and Barbara had arrived about as early as any student could to the cafeteria, where they were the first team to get their food and pick a table. Hannah and Barbara were reading a book together, which they needed for an assignment due in just a couple of days—one Diana had completed last week.</p><p>Sipping her coffee, thankful for the caffeine it provided, since she was tired after her nightly escapade, she almost failed to notice it when Akko stepped through the cafeteria door wearing a massive red ribbon on her hat.</p><p>Diana’s soul dropped to her feet. How…?</p><p>“What the hell is she doing?” Hannah pointed at her, her eyes following the ribbon with disbelief.</p><p>“Oh no, she found out,” Barbara said, grimacing.</p><p>“About what?” Hannah asked, confused.</p><p>Diana said nothing. She tried to keep her eyes away from Akko, but maybe that’d be <em>more</em> suspicious, given everyone else present had their eyes drawn to the hat like moths to the flames. She did pay attention to what Barbara was saying.</p><p>“Here,” Barbara used her wand to project a picture that almost made Diana jump in a panic.</p><p>For it was a picture of herself in disguise.</p><p>“A Shiny Chariot cosplayer?” Hannah raised an eyebrow.</p><p>“No, no. This one’s a Phantom Thief, or White-Gloved Thief, or Gentleman—in this case, Gentlewoman—Thief.”</p><p>“A <em>thief?</em>” Hannah looked at the picture in disbelief. “Doesn’t look like a burglar’s attire.”</p><p>“That’s the point,” Barbara rolled her eyes. Then her stare brightened up, the way it usually did when she grew excited. “Often inspired by Arsène Lupin or other such Gentlemen Thieves, they send cards warning of the theft to come and then proceed, against all odds, to actually steal what they warned they would, no matter the security or means, usually non-violently, though there may be a fight here and there.”</p><p>Hannah looked as skeptical as any normal person would be. “And you’re saying this woman…” Hannah leaned closer to the picture. “…stole what?”</p><p>“I… No-one’s sure. This is only her third hit, and the first one taken seriously by the police,” Barbara said with uncertainty. She took the picture away. “But she was caught on camera at the end of it, by chance. Sadly it’s a bit on the darker side due to the bad light angles and we can’t make much out besides the clear hair, but she’s already a phenomenon.”</p><p>Diana tried not to show how ashamed she was. She’d completely forgotten about the timer on the spell that hid her from cameras. Had it worn off at some point during her final run? Given that picture, it had to be at the end of her heist. Now the entire world knew about her alter-ego.</p><p>More importantly, now her friends knew about it.</p><p><em>Most</em> importantly, Atsuko Kagari knew about it.</p><p>Now, the brunette walked around the cafeteria without a single hint of shame at her ridiculous accessory.</p><p>“I mean, it’s no surprise Akko likes her. She’s clearly taking inspiration on Chariot,” Hannah said, shaking her head. “… do you think she somehow found the Shiny Rod?”</p><p>Diana put her tea down. “I seriously doubt it,” she said. “The Shiny Rod disappeared, for good.”</p><p>“Well, something like that happened to Chariot too, right? Maybe it’s like, a magic destiny thing. It appears to people who need it and stuff?” Barbara suggested.</p><p>Shaking her head, Diana said, “It was a key, a tool meant specifically for the Grand Triskellion. That’s over with.”</p><p>“Well, either way,” Hannah said, “that sword-wand thing looks pretty good. The ribbon’s ridiculous, though.”</p><p>While not showing it, Diana took offense in that. She thought it was cute, and the size wasn’t really something she could change.</p><p>However, before she could object, someone stopped by their table. “Hey, you know anything about that thing Akko’s got on her hat?” Amanda asked, her face a mixture of amusement and confusion.</p><p>Diana sighed. This was going to be a long morning…</p><p> </p><p>Or day.</p><p>The blue team was studying in their room after class; the only sound that of the pages turning. Golden sunlight streamed in from the windows, and the atmosphere was perfect for concentration. That was, at the very least, until Barbara spoke.</p><p>“Diana, you need to see this,” she called to Diana.</p><p>Diana turned, eyebrow raised. Barbara and Hannah were both reading something on Barbara’s crystal ball. Walking over, Diana quickly realized what the deal was. A newspaper website with a very peculiar article on it: ‘The Phantom Thief’s objective’, with that same picture of Diana being hit by lights, her face darkened by the shadows.</p><p>Hannah pointed at a paragraph. “Check this out; ‘The thief—who many have started to call <em>Phantom Chariot</em>—has taken an old magical item called <em>The Scroll of Lifeblood,</em> containing an ancient healing spell which was priced, according to experts, at over seventy-five <em>thousand</em> Pounds, or nearly eighty-five thousand Euros,’” Hannah read a bit too fast for Diana’s comfort. “‘Police reports say the item has close to no practical application, since the spell is well known by today’s magical community, so this <em>Phantom Chariot</em> figure’s reason for taking it is anyone’s guess. It is still unknown what the previous targets of this thief were, but maybe we’ll get a clearer picture once we do’.”</p><p>“That was one of the Cavendish Heirlooms your aunt sold out, wasn’t it?” Barbara asked, turning to face Diana.</p><p>“Yes,” Diana said, forcing down any sign of discomfort. Something the article <em>didn’t</em> mention was that their original owners, the House of Cavendish, had sold the scroll for only a <em>fourth</em> of its true worth. And they also conveniently ignored the part where Phantom Chariot—Nines no, she was <em>not</em> going to take on that name. Though maybe she should think of something else—had <em>also</em> given back all of the money spent on the item.</p><p>“You look… unsurprised,” Hannah said.</p><p>Diana shrugged. “The scroll is, sadly, no longer property of my family—and even then, I know it by heart. Whether that man or a thief owns it now, it’s none of my concern.”</p><p>“Well, I suppose you’re right…” Barbara didn’t sound convinced. Hannah shook her head, but when no more comment on the issue rose, Diana went back to her studies. Or so she tried, for only five minutes after, someone knocked on her door.</p><p>Hannah was the one to open, and it only took a second for her to figure out what was about to happen. “Diana, someone’s here to see you.”</p><p><em>Oh, right,</em> Diana realized. She stood, peeking around the library that separated her segment of the room from the other. “Akko, good afternoon,” she said, smiling at the brunette standing at the door. “Please come in.”</p><p>Akko paused. “Oh, we’re doing it here? I thought- no, yeah, sure,” she chuckled nervously, walking into the room. She was still wearing the hat with the massive ribbon on it. Hannah went back to her seat, and Diana flicked her wand to make a second chair appear by her desk.</p><p>“Please sit,” she offered. Then she looked at the hat. “I feel I don’t need to point this out, but you do know we’re only supposed to wear hats with our formal attires, right?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Akko sat down as Diana levitated the things on her desk back to their places and brought out instead bibliography relevant to their current studies.</p><p>“And that the ribbon is against school rules?”</p><p>“Well, no-one chastised me for it,” Akko defended. “Isn’t it cool, too? Have you seen the video, Diana? The one with Shiny Kaito.”</p><p>Diana blinked. “Shiny… Kaito?”</p><p>“Yes, the thief!”</p><p>“No, I’ve heard of the thief. Not of her being called <em>that.</em> What’s Kaito?”</p><p>“Oh, it’s Japanese for Phantom Thief, basically. I’ve read people calling her Phantom Chariot, but come on, Chariot is… well, Chariot’s <em>name</em>, so they’re stupid,” Akko took off her hat, showing it to Diana. “It took me a few hours, but after watching the video and examining photos, I managed to do this!”</p><p>She was clearly proud of it. Diana could see the imperfections in the design, probably a fault of the video’s messy nature, but she had no reason to point them out. “You… like the thief?” She asked, wary.</p><p>Akko directed at her a wide grin that could have worked as a blunt weapon. “Yes! She’s graceful and cool! I’m definitely gonna cosplay her next Halloween.”</p><p>“But she’s a thief. A criminal,” Diana pointed out.</p><p>“Maybe, but a common trope for a kaito is that they’re usually doing it for a good reason… I think. I haven’t actually seen a lot past a couple of anime…”</p><p>Diana kept her surprise in check. A part of her was extremely happy that Akko actually liked her disguised self. But she had to keep herself neutral. “Well, you can like her if you want, I guess,” she said. “As long as she’s not ruining anyone’s life, I suppose her style is… appreciable.”</p><p>“Appreciable? She’s awesome!” Akko said. “I mean, not as great as Chariot, but then again, she’s not putting on a show,” Akko put a finger to her chin. “She does seem to have a dramatic sense, though…”</p><p>Behind her, Diana heard her teammates groaning at the conversation. They had a point, this was not what Akko was here for. “Ok, enough about this phantom thief woman, it’s about time we get started,” Diana interrupted, pointing at the book. “You need help with your assignment and I’ve accepted to teach you. That doesn’t mean I’m going to do it for you.”</p><p>Akko was snapped back to the present. Putting the hat aside, she nodded diligently. “Alright,” she looked at the book, her overly serious expression almost comedic.</p><p>“What do you need me to explain first?”</p><p>After a moment’s thought, Akko said, “Let’s start in page… ten.”</p><p>Diana blinked. “That’s the beginning of the book,” she said. Akko smiled apologetically, and Diana understood. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d done this, and she guessed it also wouldn’t be the last. But it was hard to get mad at Akko, when she was clearly trying her best.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>There's no particular schedule in which I'll release these. I think it'll be frequent, but don't count on it. I don't have a super big plan for the story, just some ideas for the future and how I want it to end—all of which can change at any point if my brain so wishes to.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Preparing for a heist took effort.</p><p>Diana didn’t have a lot of free time on her hands. She had stopped going around the school helping those who asked for her, using the excuse that she was too busy—which was technically correct, only not for the reasons most assumed. The sole exception to this was Akko. The rest of her free time was spent researching and getting ready to pull off her next heist. There were a number of Cavendish Heirlooms her aunt had sold off, and Diana planned to recover them all.</p><p>She’d attempted the legal route. She’d tried to negotiate to buy them back at an ever higher price than what they were sold for. Not a single person would take a cent less than the item’s ‘true’ worth.</p><p>So Diana had taken matters into her hands.</p><p>Now, she looked at the list of items she still had to collect. Some of them were in museums, which she was still debating on whether she should steal back or not—to have the history of her family be appreciated that way was almost a compliment.</p><p>But others were easy. Especially items with little to no practical value. Her first target, an old tapestry woven by an ancient Cavendish head witch. Her second target, a philosopher’s stone ring that had broken and could no longer hold magic. And of course, her third target, an old scroll with well-known information. All of these were useless save for their historical and emotional value—both of which would best be held by them being in possession of the family who had inherited them.</p><p>A part of her was tempted to go for an easy target. The ‘cheap’ ones sold to small collectors. But she figured those would actually be easier to steal later down the line, where once she had a bit more fame, her calling card would be enough for the owners to figure out it’d be less expensive to just let her take it instead of hiring extra security or making preparations, especially after word got out that she always gave back what they’d paid for them.</p><p>Others that were currently out of reach were those of people from foreign countries. While nightly escapades within the UK and Ireland were easy with the help of Ley-Lines, trips abroad would take too long. The closest parts of Europe she could maybe manage in a day, but anything further would always require at least a couple of days. One of her targets, in south-America, would definitely take her five days. Another one, in Japan, about the same. And that was just taking into consideration the heist and the time to make the most basic of preparations. Realistically, she’d need from three days to a full extra week, to study her target and how to handle everything before sending the calling card.</p><p>For now, though, she decided her next target was going to be arguably the most useless piece in the entire list: Beatrix’s blanket. It was just a blanket the old witch had used as a child. It had no magical properties, besides a spell cast to make it more resilient to time for preservation’s sake. Diana had an emotional connection to it, as it was one of the items her mother kept on her room, stored in her closet. While at the time Diana hadn’t cared, nowadays she was fond of the item.</p><p>With that decided, she wrote down all the relevant information for the item: Current owner, where it was held—if it was known—and the price at which it had been sold.</p><p>Miranda Clarke, a twenty-five year old woman who lived in London. The blanket had been sold at a measly two thousand pounds, almost as if Daryl had <em>wanted </em>to get rid of it. Diana wrote down the address of the lady and then stored the list along with her other scrolls. No-one ever looked over her stuff, so she didn’t feel the need to keep it ‘safe’. Hiding in plain sight, as some may say.</p><p>After doing that, Diana made memory. She had homework for two subjects pending, and one short project. After that, she’d get on with the preparations for the heist. She’d likely manage to steal the blanket within the week, if everything went fine.</p><p>Until then, though, she’d better get as much rest as possible.</p><p> </p><p>“Ah, I got it!” Diana exclaimed out loud when the idea for a name hit her.</p><p>Everyone in class had turned to look at her, with good motive, as that had been very unlike her. But she <em>had</em> been trying to think of a name more fitting than ‘Phantom Chariot’ or, as Akko preferred, ‘Shiny Kaito’. No, neither of those would work. But this felt more like her. Maybe the meaning wasn’t particularly sound, but as soon as it occurred to her she <em>knew </em>it was the name she had to go with.</p><p>She nodded. She’d have to tell her helper to add it on the next calling card. Maybe that’d give her a bit more renown, too.</p><p>“Excuse that,” she said. “I’ve been struggling with a problem, I got excited.”</p><p>Believing the simple excuse—Diana didn’t know if she should be offended they’d been so quick to buy it—everyone turned back to the blackboard.</p><p>Diana stretched. Her next heist would be in two days. She’d already slipped out at night to do some reconnaissance, and tonight she’d send the calling card. Often, the silliness of what she was doing things like that hit her. She’d have a much easier time just slipping in and stealing stuff without warning.</p><p>But even in stealing, she wanted to keep a semblance of dignity. And if the new owners of the heirlooms <em>really</em> wanted to keep them then they’d have to foil her attempt. It was simple logic.</p><p>For the rest of today, though, she had classes and tutoring to do. She shouldn’t be thinking about her nightly activities quite yet.</p><p> </p><p>“Thanks Diana, see you at dinner,” Akko said with a big smile as she left the room, her arms full of reading material Diana was certain she’d forget to go over by Monday as she’d promised. Diana watched her go until she turned the corner, then closed the door. She truly enjoyed these study sessions with Akko, but a part of her couldn’t help but feel slightly uncomfortable, as she had taken to wear her hat and that ribbon as if she were a fangirl.</p><p>“You two are getting pretty close, huh?” Barbara asked after Diana had turned. The knowing smile on her face made it hard for Diana to pretend she didn’t get what she was saying.</p><p>She still tried, though. “Whatever do you mean?”</p><p>Hannah, reading from the bed, rolled her eyes. “Pretended density aside, Diana, you’re still taking that trip tonight?”</p><p>“Yes,” Diana nodded. “Daryl asked for help, and I’m not about to refuse it.”</p><p>“Take care, you never know when the snake will bite you,” Barbara warned. Diana nodded, not trying to correct them on their worry. After years of knowing Daryl as nothing but someone determined to run the Cavendish name into the ground, they wouldn’t understand how things had changed until they saw it firsthand.</p><p>Diana finished what little homework she had left for today and then stood, stretching her legs and taking her wand, moving it around like a conductor to an orchestra as she packed everything she’d need for the two-day trip ‘home’.</p><p>“Do you <em>really</em> have to go?” Hannah asked when Diana was finished. “Can’t you just, you know, talk through a crystal ball?”</p><p>There was worry in her eyes, and her hands fidgeted nervously. Barbara was more relaxed, but she was looking at them with a quiet intensity, clearly wishing Diana stayed too. “Sorry. Duty calls, and I must be there in person for this. Don’t fret; you’re more than ready for the test this Monday.”</p><p>“That’s not it. You shouldn’t have to be alone all weekend with your aunt and cousins,” Hannah said.</p><p>Diana smiled fondly, putting a hand on Hannah’s shoulder. “I’ll be just fine, I promise.”</p><p>She was clearly unsatisfied, but with a sigh, she dropped it. “Call us when you get there, aight?”</p><p>“As always,” Diana nodded, which finally got Hannah to go back to her reading. She picked her luggage and put it near the door. Before leaving Luna Nova, she had one more stop. “I’ll be back in a while and then I’ll leave.”</p><p>Her teammates nodded, and she was off.</p><p> </p><p>When she’d first discovered Constanze’s secret workshop, Diana had been outraged. To have taken hold of one of Luna Nova’s old basements without any sort of authorization was against nearly every safety rule at school. But she’d let it slide on account of Constanze showing to her the blueprints of how she’d remodeled the whole thing to make sure it wouldn’t bury her under the earth.</p><p>Nowadays, she was thankful for that. To say she and Constanze were friends was a stretch, but they had a bit of a partnership. One thing the small mechanic was flawless at was keeping secrets. No one like someone who almost never spoke to do that.</p><p>Getting to the lab was a bit more complicated for Diana. Constanze had a number of secret entrances, though she usually went for the one in her room. Diana couldn’t use that one, so she had to go to the ones outside, which was often a hassle. Still, it was worth it.</p><p>When she came down today, she found the mechanic working as usual. “Good afternoon, Constanze,” Diana said. Constanze didn’t look up from what she was doing, but gave her a grunt of acknowledgement. Understanding, Diana patiently waited for her to be done. She was tinkering with a small, round item that looked very much like a clock, a tiny screwdriver in one hand and pliers on the other.</p><p>She was carefully putting tiny little pieces inside the casing. It was a complicated process that would probably take her days and-</p><p>Constanze stepped away from the clock-like artifact, closed it, and raised it triumphantly towards Diana. “Are you done?” Diana asked, her surprise apparent. Constanze nodded energetically, walking towards her and placing the silvery disk on her hand. It was slightly smaller than Diana’s palm.</p><p>Diana looked at her reflection on it. There were hints of bags under her eyes, but after the next heist she’d make sure to get some proper rest. “Does it work?”</p><p>Constanze paused. Then she shrugged, gesturing in a way that Diana assumed meant ‘try it’.</p><p>She looked it, saw a small button on its side, and pressed it. Suddenly, the small artifact glowed green and shot forward a wide, V-shaped magic light that scanned Constanze as some sort of holographic sensor. When it was done, Constanze’s shape appeared on the silver as if it was a screen. Diana tapped it, and in front of her, a hologram of Constanze overlapped with the real one.</p><p>The tiny girl stepped out of her hologram, a satisfied smile on her face as she nodded approvingly. “This is amazing, Constanze. I don’t think I can thank you enough,” Diana said. Making illusions with magic only worked from a short range and it required constant concentration: It wasn’t practical, which is why Diana had been forced to resort to means such as asking fairies for help.</p><p>With this, though, she wouldn’t have to let anyone else feed on her shadow.</p><p>Constanze extended a hand, and Diana placed a small envelope in it. After examining it, the mechanic nodded and handed Diana a small booklet with the instructions for the device. “You should be careful with how you use that. It’s not easy to get,” Diana warned.</p><p>Nodding absently, Constanze walked up to her work space, putting the envelope on a metal drawer and taking a blue paper, probably to draw some schematic. “Well, it was wonderful making business with you once again,” Diana said. Constanze had built her rapier and new broom, and something told her this wouldn’t be the last time they worked together.</p><p>Now, though, Constanze was once again absorbed by her work, so Diana left the workshop without bothering to say goodbye.</p><p>She was ready for the heist… almost. She had yet another stop to make, though this one wasn’t in Luna Nova.</p><p> </p><p>“Welcome home, Young Lady,” Anna welcomed her as soon as she stepped into the mansion. Next to her was Daryl, waiting with the same uncomfortable smile she wore whenever Diana came back home ever since the sanctuary incident.</p><p>“Hello, Diana,” Daryl said. Her daughters would be in the nearby city, where they had gotten mundane jobs to help with the family economy a little.</p><p>“Hello,” Diana said in a monotone. “Are things ready?”</p><p>“As ready as they’ll ever be.” Daryl nodded.</p><p>“Then we move forward,” Diana strode inside, toward her room. Anna and Daryl trailed her.</p><p>“I fixed the small rips on your suit,” Anna said. “You should consider a more durable fabric, miss.”</p><p>“I’m working on that,” Diana lied. She had too much on her hands to look for new fabrics right now. “Aunt Daryl, did you make sure the calling card was received?”</p><p>“Yes, though I’m not certain if it has been taken seriously or not,” Daryl said. “I believe miss Clarke hasn’t called the police quite yet.”</p><p>“She may not believe the calling card, or she may try to hide the blanket.” Diana stroked her chin, thinking for a moment. “Does she have a car?”</p><p>“Yes,” Anna confirmed as they stepped into Diana’s room.</p><p>“She may try to go away, then.”</p><p>“Is it important? There’s already a tracking spell on the blanket,” Daryl said.</p><p>“It is, because if it were me, I’d likely think of insulating it from magic,” Diana replied, picking up her uniform from the bed and examining it. Next to it</p><p>“Don’t worry, Young Lady. From what I gather, she’s not a real witch. Her grandmother was, and she knows of witch culture, but she isn’t trained in magic herself,” Anna summarized.</p><p>“Good,” Diana nodded, referring both to what Anna was saying and to the suit, which she proceeded to fold carefully, storing it inside the ribbon.</p><p>“Oh, and this little fellow came back,” Daryl said, pointing to the open door, where the shadow fairy now stood, expression as blank as usual.</p><p>Diana looked at it for a second. It was cute, if a little creepy. “Hello,” she said, going down on one knee and offering her hand. The fairy jumped on it. “I can’t promise you I’ll need more of your help…” she tried to explain that it’d be better for it to go, but despite its unchanging face, Diana could almost feel the disappointment from it. “But I suppose you could be a useful resource…” she pressed her lips. Damn it, it was hard to be harsh on a creature the size of her fist. “Alright, you may come, but don’t expect much.”</p><p>The critter nodded satisfied. Diana fetched the bottle in her ribbon and the fairy jumped into it without hesitation. It seemed to have taken a liking to Diana, or maybe her shadow was just delicious; either way, she’d prefer if she didn’t have to feed her shadow to it again. Not only was it uncomfortable, if it grew out of control and ate it all, she could fall unconscious in a very bad spot. It was nice enough, but fairies were… well, what they were.</p><p>“Are you off then, Young Lady? Wouldn’t you rather have dinner first?” Anna asked. She looked worried, as every time Diana was about to pull one of her heists.</p><p>“No. I have some food packed, don’t worry. I’ll see you on Sunday, Anna. You too, aunt,” tying the ribbon around her waist, Diana walked out of the room, feeling the gazes of Anna and Daryl on her back.</p><p>Now came the harshest part, on account of being the most boring of them all.</p><p> </p><p>A stakeout.</p><p>Diana hid in a roof across the street from her objective, every one of her tools hidden within her ribbon. She already knew the layout of the mansion and, to her surprise, the owner of Beatrix’s blanket didn’t seem too worried about any of this, as she was eating some popcorn and watching a movie on her couch. There was about an hour left until the night fully cloaked the city, and then it’d be game time.</p><p>The apartment was small. It only had two bedrooms, one of which had been turned into both an office and a small museum of magical items, the other not visible from this side of the building. Next to the office was the living room, which Diana was observing right now, and next to that the kitchen. In front of those would be the bathroom, a small closet, and the hallway outside of the apartment. A quaint, simple living space clearly not built for stopping magical burglars. Or any kind of burglar, save for being on the fourth floor.</p><p>However, as time moved forward, something strange started to happen.</p><p>People on the street.</p><p>Firs tit was one. Then two. Then five. Half an hour later, two dozen persons had gathered at the entrance of the building. And five minutes later, Miranda Clarke opened the door for them, letting the stream of people into her apartment. A party? She was going to throw a party?</p><p>No. Not quite. The persons coming in looked serious.</p><p>All of them had their phones out, and they started taking positions. When Diana looked at them all through her magic binoculars, she realized all of them wore little pins with a ribbon on them. <em>Her</em> ribbon.</p><p><em>Oh,</em> she realized. <em>Oh no.</em></p><p>Fans.</p><p>She had actual fans. And this woman had invited them into her house.</p><p>Diana felt her heartbeat rise. These were amateurs, why was she worried? But that wasn’t quite it. These people were on the lookout in a way far more zealous than the guards from her previous heist. They didn’t want to capture her: They wanted to get her on camera. And then, as Miranda walked among her guests, Diana noticed she also wore that same pin.</p><p>
  <em>Sweet Nines, she’s a fan too, she wishes for me to steal from her!</em>
</p><p>This changed everything. Wait, no, did it? It was totally unexpected, but it didn’t have to interfere. She could just transform. But then, she’d have to appear to Miranda herself and give her the ultimatum. To do that, she’d have to risk being caught in those cameras. She wouldn’t make another blunder like the one last time. And despite common belief, her mask, which only covered her eyes, wouldn’t hide her, not when her hair was so recognizable. If someone got a clear shot of her face, she was done for. That, and the possibility of any of those guest being police in disguise.</p><p>Maybe she could use this to her advantage? No, she <em>definitely</em> could.</p><p>It’d be a bit of improvisation, but she could make this work, after all.</p><p> </p><p>Miranda was hyped.</p><p>Her magical lineage had never been strong in her, and despite her attempts, she’d never been good at magic. But while she’d given up the idea of being a witch long ago, she’d tried to keep that part of herself somehow. So it came her collection: Simple, relatively cheap magical items, some more famous than others, but all of them meaningful in their own ways.</p><p>The crown of that collection was Beatrix Cavendish’s Blanket. It was nothing but a blanket, but having an item belonging to one of the Nine Olde Witches was more than most of the magic world could brag about.</p><p>And then, she’d gotten that calling card.</p><p>While she’d heard of the phantom thief—it was the hot topic of the moment—she’d never expected to be a target. And she wanted the blanket! While in other cases she may have tried to protect her possession, she couldn’t help feel excited about the prospect. It meant the blanket was important, after all! She felt validated. On top of that, the back of the card said she’d get the money she spent on the item back, and that if she wanted to avoid all of the hassle, she could leave the blanket out at the offered time and the exchange would be made quietly.</p><p>She didn’t take that chance, though.</p><p>She’d done some quick research, and soon she’d found a fan club for the thief. One had to admit, she had <em>style.</em> So she’d called her fans over, showing them the calling card. She’d been baffled to see so many had come, though now they waited a little impatiently.</p><p>There were also people who had gathered down in the streets, probably having heard the word that the thief would be striking here and hoping to see her or get confirmation that she was real.</p><p>Miranda wanted to meet her and ask why she needed the blanket. What secret did it hold? Oh, she was <em>so</em> excited.</p><p>“Hey, is that…?” someone said, pointing at the windows. Everyone instantly rushed over, and there, right in front of the windows, was the star of the show, standing in that pose she’d also used in that leaked video—sword pointing downwards, hand in hip, though she was looking down and hiding her eyes with the brim of her hat. The snaps of cameras and flashes began, and some even started shouting questions at her.</p><p>Miranda had ended at the back of the crowd, so she couldn’t get a good look. Darn it.</p><p>But then someone touched her shoulder. She turned, only to nearly collapse from shock when she saw the smiling face of the thief herself looking at her. A question was about to leave her mouth when the thief put a finger to her lips, shaking her head slightly. After that, she turned and slipped away into the next room over, moving as silently as a shadow.</p><p> </p><p>Diana made sure her broom and hologram stopped exactly where she wanted them to, then she jumped off the building.</p><p>The street below was narrow—this area was on the older side of London, with buildings not being over five stories at most, nice brick facades and cute little square casement windows—so she could make it with a jump and a flap of her cape. Along with invisibility, she got to the roof of her target without a problem as a commotion stirred when people noticed the hologram.</p><p>Diana came down from the opposite side of the building, using a magic rope from her rapier to descend and then slip into the apartment from a window quietly. She looked into the museum, where as she’d hoped, there was no-one.</p><p>She looked into the living room, where everyone was fighting to get closer to the windows. Diana’s hologram moved only slightly, her cape flapping slightly with a breeze. She had posed and recorded herself for about five minutes, which she hoped would be enough time.</p><p>Also, as she’d expected, Miranda wasn’t in the fighting crowd. She may be wearing the pin, but she definitely wasn’t a die-hard fan as those other guys.</p><p>Diana approached stealthily and tapped Miranda in the shoulder. The woman turned, her eyes bulging out in shock as she realized who had touched her. Her mouth opened, but Diana was quick to react and put a finger on her lips, shaking her head. Then she turned and hoped the woman followed without telling anyone.</p><p>They slipped into the museum. The first time Diana had been here she’d been surprised by the small but impressive collection. No time to admire it now, though. “Miranda Clarke,” Diana started, “you attained Beatrix’s Blanket through dishonest means, taking advantage of a weakened family to gain a historical Heirloom that is of no real worth to you,” she said, though far less harshly to the woman than she had been with Oscar. “Hand it over or face my wrath,” she finished by pointing to the blanket. It was hanging in a frame on the wall, and it was about as tall as Diana.</p><p>Miranda looked at the blanket. “I can’t really get it out of there alone…”</p><p>She had a point. Diana flicked her sword, and the frame came undone, the crystal dropping carefully to the floor with the blanket on top. Miranda quickly folded it and handed it to Diana. “Is the name on the calling card what you’re really called?” she asked quietly.</p><p>“Indeed,” Diana nodded.</p><p>“Can I, you know, tell others?”</p><p>“I won’t stop you,” she turned to the window, ready to bail.</p><p>“W-wait. Why are you stealing these things?” She asked. Diana paused. “That hair… are you a Cavendish?”</p><p>She decided it’d be better to not answer. Instead, she simply directed a smirk at Miranda. “Never forget, Miranda: Belief is the source of all magic.”</p><p>And so, she was off. She jumped off the window, and the hologram disappeared at the very same time as the broom reacted to her presence and flew right below her feet. Diana held the blanket up for the crowd to see, as she’d done last time.</p><p>She heard the outraged and amazed cries of the people at what had just happened, and but before anyone had a chance to react and take more photos, she was off, flying over the city. Shoving the blanket in her ribbon, she smiled. That had been easy. Hopefully she hadn’t overlooked anything this time.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>When writing these heists I like to listen to Persona 5 music for very obvious reasons. I may not agree with a lot of the game's decisions but DAMN THAT SOUNDTRACK. Not that it was much of a heist this time, but you get the point.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“‘The phantom thief reveals her name: Shiny Artemis’.”</p>
<p>Hannah had walked up to Diana Sunday afternoon as soon as she’d stepped into their room. The article she was showing Diana also showed a header image that was a split between the front of her calling card and a photo of her hologram.</p>
<p>“Well, that’s a fine name,” Diana said.</p>
<p>Hannah deadpanned. “Diana, don’t play dumb. It’s painfully obvious to everyone who knows you who this is.”</p>
<p>Diana said nothing, stepping to her room and starting to unpack.  “Is it now?” Diana asked, keeping calm. She had supposed this day would come eventually.</p>
<p>“I mean,” Barbara said, stepping behind Hannah as they entered Diana’s small portion of the room. “The hair is already a clue, but come on, ‘Artemis’? You couldn’t have been more obvious.”</p>
<p>“It is a surprising coincidence, to be sure,” Diana finished with her luggage and turned, looking at her teammates.</p>
<p>“And the theft just ‘coincidentally’ happened while you were away?”</p>
<p>“It don’t see why that can’t be the case.”</p>
<p>Hannah frowned, annoyed. “And the thief just happens to be stealing Cavendish Heirlooms, too, and <em>leaving behind the exact amount of money paid for them to your family.”</em></p>
<p>“A really thoughtful thief to be sure,” Diana said.</p>
<p>“Then what about the catchphrase?” Barbara tried.</p>
<p>Diana cocked her head, truly confused by what she’d said. “I don’t know what you mean.”</p>
<p>“Sure you don’t.” Hannah rolled her eyes, reading the article, “‘Before leaving—Miranda Clarke told us—she said to me: ‘Belief is the source of all magic’. Think she was trying to mimic Chariot?’. Of course you were. You copied the catchphrase, you only… Dianified it.”</p>
<p>“Excuse me?”</p>
<p>“You know, you made it sound all… technical,” Barbara explained.</p>
<p>This offended Diana a great deal. “Well I didn’t mean for that to be my…” she trailed off, realizing what she was saying. “I’ll guess you won’t simply ignore that, will you?”</p>
<p>Her teammates now gave her smirks. “I get why you’d want to hide it, but I’m fairly certain everyone at school knows it’s you, now,” Hannah said. “Why didn’t you tell us, anyways? We’re your friends.”</p>
<p>“That’s exactly why,” Diana sighed. “It’s unseemly of one such as myself to be performing these crimes. I feared you’d think less of me.”</p>
<p>Hannah frowned, while Barbara leaned forward with a smile. “You know we’ll never think less of you, right?” she reassured her.</p>
<p>“Yeah, for being so smart, you’re an idiot,” Hannah said, but she didn’t sound angry. “So, how can we help?”</p>
<p>Diana blinked. “Help?”</p>
<p>“You’re getting back your Heirlooms, right? You can’t do it alone,” Barbara agreed. The two girls stood with their arms crossed, a very clear ‘we’re not taking no for an answer’ written on their faces.</p>
<p>Not that Diana wasn’t going to try. “I can’t. It’s dangerous. You could go to prison… or worse, depending on the country,” she shook her head. “I’m sorry you figured out who I am.”</p>
<p>“You know spells to change your hair color, why not use them? They’re easy, too.” Barbara asked.</p>
<p>“Even if people figure out it’s a Cavendish,” Diana explained, “I’m inclined to believe it’s too obvious. There’s no proof of my involvement, and in the end, it’s just hair. Anyone inside magic circles would know who the Cavendish are and what our hair is like, and as you said, the spell to change hair color is easy. Should I be questioned, I’d use that very same logic, implying it’s entirely possible someone is changing their hairs to look like mine on purpose.”</p>
<p>“And if it doesn’t work?”</p>
<p>“Well, then they still have to catch me,” Diana smirked, a gesture that had been coming to her far more easily lately.</p>
<p>“Diana,” Hannah pressed her lips. “Are you sure you should be doing this?”</p>
<p>Diana shook her head. “In all honesty: No. I was so nervous during my first hit that I nearly got caught by a <em>maid.</em> I’ve gotten better, mostly thanks to massive amounts of planning that has helped grow my confidence, but this isn’t something you should be concerning yourselves with.”</p>
<p>“Well too late, we’re already concerned.” Barbara sat on Diana’s chair. “Now tell us all we need to know, please.”</p>
<p>“And what we don’t need to know too,” Hannah added, resting against the library with her arms crossed. “Spare no details.”</p>
<p>Diana was clearly not getting out of her room without speaking with them first, so despite her gripes, she had no choice other than tell the truth.</p>
<p>So she did.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Her teammates hadn’t been wrong. Almost everyone in school now looked at Diana with suspicious eyes. Some in disbelief, some in awe. Diana Cavendish, stealing? As outrageous as the idea of magic coming back in full force was a year ago.</p>
<p>However, there was one exception to this. Maybe not the only one, but the only one that mattered.</p>
<p>“You should have seen it,” Akko said. They walked down a hallway towards the library, where Diana would quickly review some of Akko’s answers during today’s test to see if she had done well. She trusted she had, Akko may not be the most studious but she could succeed when she applied herself. “She’s beautiful, Diana. And cool. That pose, that suit, even her name’s awesome! she’s…” Akko clasped her hands and smiled. “I hope I get to see her in person some day.”</p>
<p>“If you were to have that wish granted, you’d probably be getting yourself involved in some dangerous situation,” Diana explained. “I’d rather you didn’t.”</p>
<p>“You worry too much,” Akko shook her head.</p>
<p>Diana said nothing. She still wasn’t sure how to handle Akko liking Shiny Artemis. And she had only doubled down on her fanatism after Diana’s last hit. With the video showing Artemis much closer and neatly, the knowledge that she paid back what she stole out in the open, and the ‘official’ fan club gaining a greater following, something told Diana people would speak of her as they did of Shiny Chariot in the past.</p>
<p>Some would love her. The newcomers, or those inexperienced with magic.</p>
<p>The rest would hate her. The traditionalists, people like Diana herself.</p>
<p>“Say,” Akko started. “You know a lot of people in the magic world, right?”</p>
<p>“A fair number of them, I suppose.”</p>
<p>“Who do you think Shiny Artemis could be?”</p>
<p>Diana took a deep breath. “I wouldn’t know. Do <em>you</em> have any theories?”</p>
<p>“I’m not sure. Do you think it’s one of your cousins? She’s got the Cavendish hair, you know,” Akko said, looking at the ceiling with intensity. “Or maybe some distant relative of yours?”</p>
<p>It sounded like a joke, but it certainly wasn’t. “The last remnants of my family are me, my aunt and my cousins.”</p>
<p>“Maybe it’s a <em>lost</em> relative.”</p>
<p>“Sadly, that’s impossible,” Diana shook her head. “Every member of the Cavendish household is born in the sanctuary, and we all receive the blessing of Beatrix herself. That’s why our hair colors are so… recognizable.” She didn’t often share parts of her family traditions with others, but Akko was a special case.</p>
<p>“Maybe it’s Daryl,” Akko said. “She sounds like the type who’d steal back what she sold. But she’s also paying, so it <em>doesn’t</em> sound like her, hmmm…”</p>
<p>Part of Diana was happy to be getting so much of Akko’s attention. A bigger part of her was slightly frustrated that it was for the wrong reasons. She wondered how long it would take Akko to make the connection. Her blind trust in Diana was endearing, if a reminder of her fleeting attention span, as she hadn’t even seemed to have considered her classmate could be Artemis.</p>
<p>Maybe Diana <em>had</em> been too obvious with the name, now that she thought about it.</p>
<p>They entered the library, as quiet as always. A few students there turned their heads, spotting Diana instantly. Some went back to their books, others lingered, their stares painfully obvious. One of them surprised Diana, though, for the flower-like orange hair of Amanda smirked at her from a table near the door. Was it time for a blue moon already?</p>
<p>Akko noticed her too, naturally, and didn’t hesitate to go towards her and sit at the same table.</p>
<p>“Well, well, well, the witch of the moment is here,” Amanda said in a low voice, smiling knowingly as Diana sat next to Akko and in front of her.</p>
<p>“Witch of the moment?” Akko asked.</p>
<p>“You know,” Amanda explained. “She’s famous now.”</p>
<p>“Diana was always famous,” Akko’s genuine confusion took Amanda off guard. She focused her green eyes on Diana.</p>
<p>“Wait, she hasn’t figured it out?”</p>
<p>“Figure out what?” Akko asked.</p>
<p>Diana shook her head subtly, but Amanda ignored her. “That your girlfriend here is Shiny Artemis, you idiot,” she explained.</p>
<p>Akko paused. Then, she laughed. “Oh, don’t be stupid. Diana would never do that!” She said, shaking her head at the inconceivable idea.</p>
<p>“And we’re not… girlfriends,” Diana felt the strange need to point out, though it hadn’t seemed to bother Akko, if she had even noticed the use of the word.</p>
<p>Amanda raised an eyebrow at her, but otherwise looked at Akko. “How are you so sure?”</p>
<p>“It’s <em>Diana.</em> She’d never steal! Sure, they have the same cabbage hair, but that’s about all their resemblance. Plus,” she eyed Diana with an apologetic look, “have you seen how athletic Shiny Artemis is? Diana can barely run through a hallway before getting winded.”</p>
<p>She was telling the truth, though she was ignorant of Diana’s knowledge of enhancement spells. Or, rather, she was ignorant of that entire branch of magic, as far as Diana knew. “Akko, I didn’t mind you chatting about the phantom thief on our way here, but I must ask you focus now,” Diana said, taking the things she’d been carrying and setting them on the table. “On top of that, this chatting is bothering other students.”</p>
<p>No-one seemed actually bothered by the hushed conversation, but that was besides the point.</p>
<p>“Well, I should continue too,” Amanda said, picking a pen and looking at the sheet before her.</p>
<p>“What’cha doing?” Akko asked, curiosity as always overshadowing everything else.</p>
<p>“Designing my own suit to go steal things and become famous,” Amanda smirked, winking at Diana.</p>
<p>The blonde shook her head. She then forced Akko to focus on <em>their</em> stuff, while ignoring Amanda’s taunts.</p>
<p>In the end, they learnt Akko had done fairly well in the test, so at least that went well.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Diana opened her package with both of her teammates looking over her shoulder. Inside the box there was nothing but a ribbon. <em>Her</em> ribbon.</p>
<p>“Now I feel bad for insulting it,” Hannah said. “Is it really an infinite pocket?”</p>
<p>“Not infinite,” Diana said, “but with enough space that I should never have an issue. Not that I plan on putting an entire car in there or something.”</p>
<p>“Why send it here, though?” Barbara said.</p>
<p>“I can’t afford to operate from the Cavendish state any longer. The school year will become more demanding, which means I’ll need my things ready at a moment’s notice.”</p>
<p>“That’s good. We can cover for you if we know what you’re doing,” Hannah offered. “If you still refuse to accept our help.”</p>
<p>“Don’t push the subject, please,” Diana said. “We’ve talked about it. Should I need your help, I’ll ask.”</p>
<p>Hannah’s hum indicated she was definitely <em>not</em> done with the idea, but she let it go for now. “How did you get the package through? Teachers examine everything.”</p>
<p>With a weird mixture of shame and pride, Diana shrugged. “My packages don’t get examined,” she explained.</p>
<p>“Ah, of course,” Barbara chuckled.</p>
<p><em>Of course,</em> Diana felt another pang of guilt. She’d taken advantage of the trust placed on her by every teacher. She stared at the ribbon. It was already her iconic item, her signature feature. Almost as tall as her hat, as wide as the diameter of its brim, its admittedly exaggerated size had come in handy, in the end.</p>
<p>“What’s your next target?” Hannah asked.</p>
<p>“I haven’t quite decided. I’ll look into it after this week.”</p>
<p>“Right, we have that test…” Hannah said with dismay.</p>
<p>“Correct. Shall we study?” Diana closed the box and stored it under her bed.</p>
<p>“I still can’t fully imagine the studious Diana Cavendish going around at night stealing stuff,” Barbara commented, following Diana as she walked towards the couch in the middle of their room.</p>
<p>“That’s all the better.” With a flick of her wand, a tome from her book collection approached. “Now sit down, I would see how prepared you are.”</p>
<p>Her teammates exchanged a look. The kind of look that implied they knew what Diana was doing—trying to change topics. They still sat, playing along with her. How much longer would they do that, she wondered?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Constanze showed off an impressive toolkit to Diana. From a grappling hook to a small bottle of pills, the artifacts would help anyone who fancied themselves a thief in their endeavors. Save for one aspect. “I appreciate that, Constanze, but… I have magic. Most of those would be redundant.”</p>
<p>With a shake of her head and a series of signs, Constanze attempted to say something that Diana didn’t understand. How did others do it? Amanda, Akko, Sucy, Jasminka… even Mary! “Sorry, Constanze, I still have trouble understanding you.”</p>
<p>Rolling her eyes, Constanze fetched her little board for writing. She wrote a single word on it. ‘Sidekick’.</p>
<p>Diana blinked. Sidekick? A helper? If Diana ever got one, she’d certainly be sure to get a witch too. But it was true that not all witches were as knowledgeable as Diana, and many of the common spells Diana used were advanced and required lots of studying. “Ah, I understand. These are meant to help someone else match up to me. I appreciate the effort, but I don’t think I’ll ever get helpers.”</p>
<p>The mechanic threw a knowing look at her before turning and fetching another item, this one different from the last. It looked like Shiny Artemis’s mask, though. Diana cocked her head at it, but Constanze raised a hand and gave her the mask while she fetched some other things. A phone, a tablet, a couple of cameras… all of it against Luna Nova regulations, obviously.</p>
<p>Diana put on the mask. It fit perfectly. And a second later, Constanze was pointing all cameras at her and snapping photos faster than Diana could blink. After some messing around with the objects, she offered the tablet to Diana.</p>
<p>The photos… were blurry. At the face, at least. “This…” Diana took a second to process. “The mask? You made a mask that automatically hides my face from cameras?” With a satisfied smile, Constanze nodded. Diana couldn’t help a small smile of her own. “Thank you, Constanze. I’m really bad at magic involving technology. This is a wonderful tool. I truly don’t know how I’ll ever repay all of this help.”</p>
<p>Constanze extended a hand.</p>
<p>“Yes, I know. I wasn’t… Nevermind,” Diana sighed, reaching into her pocket and handing Constanze yet another envelope. Constanze checked it carefully and nodded. She then pointed at the sidekick tools she’d crafted. “Those? Store them. They could come in handy, I’m sure, but I’m not certain I’ll need them. Maybe you can find some other way to put them to use.”</p>
<p>The tiny witch didn’t look too certain, but she still moved to store all of those in a fine suitcase where they fit snugly. “Huh, you really had that thing well thought out. Did you expect me to get a sidekick eventually?” She received another nod as an answer. “Interesting, did you have anyone in mind?”</p>
<p>With a smirk, Constanze proceeded to do a few gestures mixed with waves of her arms and expressions that instantly gave away who she was referring to. “Akko? You thought Akko would be my sidekick?” Constanze shrugged, but her smile said ‘yes’. “Why would you think that?”</p>
<p>Heat crawled up Diana’s cheeks when Constanze made a little heart with her fingers. “W-what? I don’t- She doesn’t- We…” She got flustered. “Where’d you get that idea?”</p>
<p>Constanze rolled her eyes and made a dismissive wave of her hand. It annoyed Diana, but when the mechanic turned to her work once more, it was a clear sign of ‘we’re done here’.</p>
<p>Diana. Liking Akko. Or did she mean vice versa? Either way, the idea was ridiculous. Plus, Diana had no time to worry about such things. Between school and her side gig, even thinking about romance was nothing but a waste of time.</p>
<p>What she did need to worry about was her next target. She’d already picked it, and it was bound to be a challenging one.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Writing this is kind of relieving. Thanks to the very open-ended nature of this fic, I can just let my fingers flow with whatever words come to my head.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You’re not going to dress up?” Barbara asked as she saw Diana prepared to leave with nothing but her bag.</p>
<p>“Shiny Artemis only appears at the moment of the heist. Otherwise, I do reconnaissance in either nondescript clothes or a black ninja suit.”</p>
<p>Her teammates smirked at that. “Ninja suit?”</p>
<p>“It was a cheap disguise, but it’s black and comfortable and works for my purposes,” Diana stared at the window. She took the only piece of her alter-ego’s outfit she couldn’t fit in the bag—because she needed it to summon her broom—and stepped on the windowsill. “I’ll see you on Monday, girls.”</p>
<p>“Will this really take 3 days?” Hannah didn’t seem happy with the idea.</p>
<p>“I need to learn the blueprints of the building, send the calling card when I feel ready, then make final preparations until the time of the theft. I can’t be sure that any of my plans will ultimately work, either. If I’m caught…” she paused. “Well, I won’t regret it.”</p>
<p>“You won’t get caught,” Barbara smiled at her. “You’re the most amazing witch in the world.”</p>
<p>“You’re the heir to the House of Cavendish, Diana. You’ve got this,” Hannah gave her a thumb up.</p>
<p>Diana nodded, but wasn’t able to smile back at them. “Thank you.”</p>
<p>Without saying any more, she waved her rapier-wand and a few seconds later her gold and red broom came, whistling with speed before stopping before her. Diana jumped on it and a few seconds later she was off to the leyline.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Diana didn’t remember this before looking into it, but one of the many Cavendish heirlooms lost due to Daryl’s greed was a magical item that had helped in the creation of the secret hospital under their state. It was a Staff of Geomancy. It allowed its wielder to manipulate earth and rocks for a while before needing to be recharged. Besides the utility of not having to stay focused or even knowing the spell, its biggest feature was that even non-witches—or non-wizards—could use it.</p>
<p>It’d make sense, then, that this one would end up in the hands of a construction company. A lot of work could be saved with magic like that.</p>
<p>The half-baked building in front of Diana was a sight to behold. While not an unusual thing to see in big cities, she wasn’t used to it, so a part of her was genuinely excited about the prospect of going into the ten-stories high building where the support beams were still in sight and the floors and walls were nothing but bare concrete. The lower stories had windows and doors, but at Diana’s height, there was nothing but floor, roof and pillars of steel.</p>
<p>The staff was here. It was used to move around concrete, stones, sand or whatever else was needed. With the new magic flowing through the world, it wasn’t even that complicated to recharge it anymore. Before, they needed to pay someone in the possession of a Philosopher’s Stone to do it, while now it only needed a couple of nights of fresh air and it’d be ready to go.</p>
<p>Diana had spent a few days researching the staff before picking it as her target. It had roughly four days of use within it, and with two or three days to recharge it was perfect for a weekly work schedule. This meant, obviously, that the staff was most vulnerable during weekends—such as today, a Saturday—as it was left in the open, though still heavily guarded.</p>
<p>Not that it’d stay that way. Once Diana sent her card, it’d surely be put back in a special safe crafted specifically for it. Would they take her magic seriously this time? If magical authorities were involved, it’d certainly become quite the challenge. As much as she hated to admit it, Diana wanted some proper resistance in her heists. She hadn’t really felt much of a thrill since her first heist, and that one had been the easiest.</p>
<p>Either way, Diana had been watching this site for over a day now. She needed to send her calling card before midnight or it’d be too late. She knew the layout, where they kept the safe—hopefully they wouldn’t move it—and potential hiding spots for her heist.</p>
<p>The owner of the staff and CEO of the company, who of course never came close to the construction site, was Jules Brown, a thirty-five year old businessman with enough money to buy the Cavendish state single-handedly if he wanted to. He’d bought the staff at less than one fifth of its real worth.</p>
<p>Diana knew the impact stealing this would have on his company. He’d have to hire more people to do the work the staff had fulfilled until now, and it’d be a pain for him, but it would ultimately generate more jobs or he’d go under. Diana doubted he’d want to give up his money, so it would be ultimately beneficial for others that weren’t him… or so she hoped.</p>
<p>Either way, she had to do this.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Shiny Artemis stood at the top of a nearby building, examining the streets below. There was a crowd there, plenty of them with cameras at the ready. Authorities flooded the construction site up to the unfinished floors. And for the first time, there were even magical defenses in place. A handful of witches and wizards roamed the building, ready to strike at the slightest hint of trouble. Diana had been watching them for hours. The sun had set half an hour ago and Twilight would last for a bit longer. It’d soon be time to strike.</p>
<p>She was hidden by the darkness this high, but Artemis knew if she stepped closer to the edge she’d be spotted. It would be great for show, and she could use it as a distraction, but with magical defenses the game had changed. It would be great if she had a spell to tell her where everyone near her was, some sort of radar. There were similar spells to that—tracking spells, finding spells, even hunting spells—but nothing big or efficient enough for her use. X-ray spells or infrared sight spells could help her too, but they also hampered her vision in other ways and it made them unreliable.</p>
<p>No. She’d have to trust her instincts, luck and smarts. Mostly her smarts, as luck and instinct hadn’t ever been on her side. With preparations done, it was all she could do.</p>
<p>After a few extra minutes of watching the dozens of guards walking around the building, Artemis took a deep breath.</p>
<p>
  <em>Let’s go.</em>
</p>
<p>She cloaked herself with invisibility, as she’d done before. The safe was at the base floor, surrounded by so many guards one would think it impossible to beat. Artemis had an idea, but whether it’d work or not would depend on what kind of magical protections had been set up.</p>
<p>Jumping off the ledge, her cape stiffened and allowed her to glide to the top of the next building over. It had a fair number of guards, so instead of landing on the floor itself, Artemis came to a halt on top of a support beam, looking down at the guards and their erratic patterns. It would be impossible to sneak by them.</p>
<p>Luckily, she didn’t need to.</p>
<p>Going straight down wasn’t an option—it’d take too long and her invisibility wouldn’t last. She should ask Constanze if she could craft her some sort of parachute—so she instead magically roped herself to the beam and jumped off this building too. She fell for a few seconds before swinging back towards the building, and into the ninth floor where a far more manageable number of guards stood. They expected her to come from above.</p>
<p>There were no defenses set up against invisibility. As those kinds of barrier were hard to make, they’d likely be closer to the heirloom.</p>
<p>Electric lights and cameras had been set up hastily over the past day. Artemis hadn’t had time to fully use her device to hack into the data to help her, but with a quick examination she determined there were definitely blind spots. Again, further down things would be different. In fact, she suspected security up here was sloppier because they wanted her to feel at ease.</p>
<p>Good idea. Too bad, though, that Artemis never felt at ease.</p>
<p>Her invisibility was about to wear off, so Artemis hid behind a pillar and crouched. She <em>really </em>needed something like a cloak of invisibility, popularized by fiction—but those had been impossible to make for centuries, and the ones that used to exist had long ago been destroyed by the passage of time. On top of that, techniques to make them were either lost or recorded in books no-one, not even Diana, had read in this generation. Magic world or not, it wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.</p>
<p>Enough of imagining impossible things, though.</p>
<p>She cast a transformation spell, turning herself into a fly. The good thing about the unfinished building was that an insect didn’t feel out of place. Using this in houses risked getting hit by a shoe or something similar, and Artemis wasn’t ready to die quite yet.</p>
<p>She went down to the fourth floor, where cameras were now set properly and there wasn’t a single spot unwatched.</p>
<p>And there was the first magical barrier.</p>
<p>They weren’t obvious, but one could spot them with the right knowledge. A slight glimmer in the air, a slight distortion here or there. Magical barriers were never perfect, as magic and air mixing tended to create light, but these were thin enough to avoid that… for the most part.</p>
<p>Which kind was it? Would it take away Artemis’s transformation? Would it create a magically dead zone inside? With the new world, possibilities were endless. Either way, there was only one thing to do.</p>
<p>Artemis flew straight for the barrier.</p>
<p>Her transformation wore off as soon as she crossed it.</p>
<p>Diana paused, the sudden transformation stunning her for a second. However, after that, she heard someone shout and darted forward.</p>
<p>A dozen guards instantly darted towards her. Artemis was faster than all of them, and she jumped over one with ease before going downstairs. Of course, others waited for her down there too. “You’re surrounded, give it up!” one of them shouted.</p>
<p>Artemis smirked and casted another spell. She jumped up, flipped and her feet stuck to the ceiling. Running like this would be tiresome normally, but Artemis had practice and stamina enough to handle it, so she headed for the stairs.</p>
<p><em>No transformation, probably no illusions either. It’s a skillful barrier, but not one that was put up by the half dozen magic users here. The stronger barrier is down,</em> Artemis thought as her cape flared behind her, acting as a shield for incoming taser-gun attacks.</p>
<p>She jumped, flipping again and falling on top of the next flight of stairs, where another bunch of guards waited for her. The lower two floors had walls and windows on them, so it’d be a waste of time trying to round this up. No extra barriers yet, so Artemis reached into her ribbon and took out a couple of smoke bombs. One of them fell in the middle of the group waiting for her, and Artemis landed right in the middle of it.</p>
<p>With a smirk, she cast a spell that exchanged her clothes with a guard—or rather, which put them in a cosplay of Artemis, while her real clothes and items were stored in her ribbon. With her rapier she made a few of the nearby guards fall, and then she carefully stepped out of the smoke, coughing and having hidden her ribbon inside her now blue jacket—which made her bigger than the person she’d disguised as, but it’d have to do. She’d changed her rapier for a wand hidden inside a baton.</p>
<p>Her other smoke bomb hidden in her hand, she pretended to back off with the other guards. Storing her rapier in the ribbon was a risk, as it was a more efficient one to use, but the backup wand would have to do.</p>
<p>When the smoke was cleared, the fake Artemis was instantly pinned by four guards at the same time. Everyone kept alert, and others walked to the edges of the floor to look out the windows. Artemis pretended to do the same, going to the stairs. A few guards looked up at the commotion. “We’ve caught her!” she said, hiding her face as best she could. Her mask, same as everything else, was hidden within the ribbon.</p>
<p>The faces of those below were a mixture of skepticism and excitement. Two of them climbed up as the fake Artemis kept insisting she wasn’t the thief.</p>
<p>Then she cried.</p>
<p>Diana paused, turning to the guard. She’d been hit by one of the guards to shut her up. A chill ran down her spine.</p>
<p>
  <em>No.</em>
</p>
<p>She was willing to cross a number of lines. Not that one.</p>
<p>Her body reacted before her mind, the instinctive casting of a spell she had used a number of times in her life, though, never before silently and even less to purposefully attack another human. <em>Murowa</em> was a spell that caused some damage, though nothing that’d kill.</p>
<p>Enough to deter someone from hitting an innocent bystander.</p>
<p>The guard was hit and as if shocked he grunted in pain and fell back. His body took the hit far better than Akko’s had. Then again, he was twice the size of the brunette.</p>
<p>“You’ve got the wrong thief, you buffoon!” Artemis cried, dropping the act despite her best judgement and casting yet another spell to go back to her usual outfit. “Catch me if you can!”</p>
<p>She darted backwards and jumped over the group of slightly confused guards.</p>
<p>Second floor. Here, Artemis saw another barrier. She threw her second smoke bomb, reached into her hat and took out two things: The fairy in a bottle and her clock-like illusion device. She hung her rapier on her side and, after taking a third smoke bomb, darted towards the barrier.</p>
<p>Crossing it left her dazed for a moment. There was no obvious effect at first, but a quick twist of the wrist told her what she needed to know: An anti-magic field. Her cape moved when she wanted it to, but her ribbon’s pocket dimension was inaccessible. The cape didn’t use much magic, it’d be able to work for a while on the remainder of what it had. The ribbon though had closed, unable to work inside the field.</p>
<p>The illusion device worked too. Diana stuck it to her belt and took the fairy out of the bottle, all the while running and deciding she really needed to go to the gym if she was going to keep this up. Or find a way to break anti-magical fields easily. “When I tell you to, take a bite of me and do as we agreed.” The little black fairy nodded and jumped on her shoulder.</p>
<p>Guards were already going after her. Those who shot at her from the back found their efforts wasted thanks to Diana’s cape, but that wouldn’t last long. She had revealed herself a bit sooner than she’d wanted to, but this didn’t need to bother her. She activated the clock, and a second Shiny Artemis seemed to split from her body.</p>
<p>“She just cloned herself!” A guard cried. Diana rolled her eyes, cloning wasn’t as simple as that. Not that they’d know.</p>
<p>The illusion-hologram thing—Diana still wasn’t exactly sure of how it had been built—mimicked her movements, and it made for enough of a distraction for Diana to get to the bottom floor.</p>
<p>There, in the middle of the place, was the safe with the staff.</p>
<p>And two dozen people guarding it, three witches and two wizards among them.</p>
<p>“Drop the weapon, put your hands in the air!” an officer cried, aiming a taser gun at her from about ten meters away.</p>
<p>Diana did as told, same as her ‘clone’. Luckily the fake rapier didn’t disappear. “Go,” she whispered. The fairy bit the shadow behind her ear, giving her a momentary dizziness, and melted into the floor. More officers and guards ran down the stairs and Diana found herself surrounded with apparently no chance to escape, a near perfect circle formed around her. She checked her cape—it still moved, though she felt a delay in its reaction.</p>
<p>“Check your shadows, if anyone feels sudden weakness, chills or extreme discomfort tell me,” one of the wizards said, holding the top-hat above his head as he looked around for the fairy. Those who had Diana or the hologram in their sights didn’t move, but others did check at the ground. Diana’s heart thumped in her chest, the knowledge that at any time she could be attacked giving her the wrong kind of thrill.</p>
<p>Normal officers kept away from her now, probably scared of what she could do. Instead, a witch and a wizard carefully walked closer, one holding handcuffs and the other a wand that still glowed green—which meant she was the one holding the anti-magic field in place.</p>
<p>The woman waved the wand at Diana, but nothing happened. “It’s some sort of magical item, my spell can’t get to it,” she said to the other one. Diana suspected she’d been trying to dispel the illusion, or maybe something to affect her cape. “Drop the illusion, girl, and maybe we’ll</p>
<p>Something surged through Artemis, and she got an idea. “You can’t simply dispel my magic,” she said, a smile growing on her face, her eyes focused on the safe.</p>
<p>The wizard paused about ten meters from her, mistrust evident. “Do you take us for fools?”</p>
<p>Of course, Diana knew she wouldn’t trick these people. They were experienced, understood the intricacies of magic and had already deduced her usage of magic items. This wasn’t to trick <em>them.</em> This was, as always, to let rumors run. Stories.</p>
<p>This was a gamble.</p>
<p>A shadow moved through the safe.</p>
<p>“No,” Artemis shook her head slowly. “It’s just that you’ve never faced one such as me before. Not a witch, nor a wizard, I’m something both above and below you all.” The duo’s skeptical looks were almost funny. Diana wondered what drove her to say all of this. Maybe she did have a knack for theatrics after all.</p>
<p>The barest hint of a click was heard. One Diana heard only because she was waiting for it.</p>
<p>“I’m a magician!” Artemis shouted, dropping the last smoke bomb, which she’d been holding carefully between two fingers so that it wouldn’t show.</p>
<p>Shouts followed as Diana crouched, picked her rapier and dashed forward. Her cape spun around her, protecting her from all the incoming taser shots just in time, and a second later Diana was tackling the man with the handcuffs and taking them from him in a rather sloppy move from what she was used to as Shiny Artemis, but it worked nonetheless.</p>
<p>A second later, she dashed out of the smoke cloud—it was surprising, how useful those bombs were—and aimed her rapier at the safe. The wand glowed ineffectively, yet the safe opened anyways and showed what was inside. The guards surrounding the safe were surprised. “One of those isn’t trailing smoke!” the wizard from before noticed.</p>
<p>Too late for that. With another futile attempt at casting a spell, the fairy shadow threw the staff into the air and Diana leaped. The cape give its last magic breath as it helped her go a little further with a flap.</p>
<p>She caught the staff mid-air, and knowledge of its use engrained in her brain from tirelessly studying it came to her in a rush. Still in the air, she twisted and extended her hands.</p>
<p>The floor everywhere but where she landed became unstable mud. Surprised yelps followed and a number of shots were loosened towards the ceiling in surprise. The witch and wizard from before tripped and fell as she deactivated the holographic doppelganger and raised her treasure into the air. The anti-magic field disappeared in that same moment, and Artemis lifted her rapier. “Jules Brown, you attained the Staff of Geomancy through dishonest means, taking advantage of a weakened family to gain a historical Heirloom that has given you the means to achieve a fortune! You paid no heed to my warnings and even refused to show yourself in fear of facing my wrath. This item has already given you back far more than what you paid for it, but I’ll show that I do not discriminate based on money or status!” With a swift movement, she took out a suitcase with money from her ribbon and threw it in front of her.</p>
<p>“Now!” one of the remaining three magic users cried, and the three of them together tried to take a shot at her.</p>
<p>Artemis swung her arm in a wide arc for show and put a shield around herself, stopping the attacks. “You cannot stop me!” She declared as a final phrase.</p>
<p>Then, using the staff once more, she disappeared under the ground as if swallowed by the earth itself, returning stability to the rest of the floor.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Shiny Artemis shot out of the street as if it was an everyday occurrence and her cape kept her up long enough for her broom to arrive, allowing her to land on it with grace. This time, Artemis let herself be photographed and recorded as much as the crowd wished, holding the fruits of her success overhead.</p>
<p>“Never forget!” she cried for all to hear. “Belief is the source of all magic!”</p>
<p>And after cheering that caught her by surprise, her broom was flying off into the night.</p>
<p>Diana stored the staff and rapier in her ribbon and carefully sat down on the broom, taking a deep breath and letting the stress from the heist retreat. To do it, she landed on the rooftop of a nearby skyscraper. She also had to wait for the little fairy this time.</p>
<p>When that was done, she found a surprising emotion rising above the rest, and it gave her a chill that had nothing to do with the cold air up this high.</p>
<p>Satisfaction.</p>
<p>The true satisfaction of a job well done.</p>
<p>And that scared her.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The bad thing of posting like this is that I don't often know what to say. This chapter was really fun to write, if you couldn't tell. Also, a bit of a challenge I put for myself in this fanfic is that I'm doing Diana POVs only. I'm very used to shifting POVs and wanted to see if I could craft a proper story without that. Uhm... hope you enjoy, don't forget to comment!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rumors spread fast.</p><p>It was Wednesday after the construction site heist that Diana first noticed it: There were students besides Akko wearing little ribbon pins. They looked at Diana with dreamy expressions and giggled when she walked nearby. It made Diana uncomfortable to realize she was gaining a different style of fan following than she had achieved until now.</p><p>It made her <em>more</em> uncomfortable to realize she <em>didn’t</em> dislike it.</p><p>She was used to being the center of attention. But this was different. People weren’t cheering her for her family  name or expectations placed on her due to her studies and abilities. They were now judging her style and presence. Her ability to entertain while trying to maintain a worthy goal.</p><p>They were judging something Diana <em>wanted</em> to be judged. And they liked it. They liked Diana for who she was, not for who she <em>should</em> be.</p><p>But was that really Diana, though?</p><p>It felt more real than her usual self, at least.</p><p>No teacher had yet made any comments about the topic to Diana. Maybe out of respect, maybe out of simple ignorance of the topic, as many of them probably didn’t understand how to use social media—like Diana herself. But one of them <em>did</em> sometimes give her weird looks. Chariot herself.</p><p>Even now, as she was teaching, she seemed to pointedly avoid selecting Diana any time she asked a question. She’d argue it was because she wanted to give others the chance to participate, but it was evident she just was uncomfortable with Diana right now.</p><p>Opposite to that, there was Akko. The class came to an end and Chariot all but ran out of the classroom to avoid the rush of students going out to lunch. Akko, though, stayed and brought out her Crystal Ball.</p><p>Diana had been watching her fidget with it for a couple days now, but she couldn’t hold back the curiosity anymore, so she got closer to the brunette, whose teammates looked resigned to their fate of waiting as Akko finished whatever she was doing.</p><p>“Hello, Akko. What are you doing?” Diana asked.</p><p>“Not studying, that’s for sure,” Hannah commented from behind.</p><p>Akko turned. “Hey Diana! Did you hear the latest news on Shiny Artemis?”</p><p>Everyone who remained in the classroom looked at Akko with disbelief. She truly was the only one at Luna Nova who hadn’t yet figured it out. “Can’t say I have,” Diana played dumb.</p><p>“Akko, you’ve been at it for weeks. It’s just a thief, let it go,” Sucy said, groaning in frustration.</p><p>“You say that as if I only talked about this,” Akko replied.</p><p>“You kinda do,” Lotte chimed in, giving an apologetic smile to the brunette.</p><p>“It’s worse than with Chariot,” Sucy continued.</p><p>Akko rolled her eyes. “Whatever, it’s a cool new celebrity! Why wouldn’t I wanna talk about her?” She turned to Diana. “Ignore them, look at this!” she nearly shoved the crystal ball in Diana’s mouth to get it closer. It showed a short video of her shooting out of the ground and getting onto her broom taken by one of the bystanders. “She escaped out of a building <em>crawling </em>with guards! They say her magic is so strong no-one can dispel it! Or that she can beat an army of armed men with only her rapier!”</p><p><em>Well that certainly grew out of proportion,</em> Diana thought. But hadn’t that been sort of the idea?</p><p>“That’s extremely unlikely,” Diana affirmed.</p><p>“I don’t know, maybe she does have some sort of magical item that lets her do that sort of stuff. And now she has that earthbending staff! No one will catch her now!” Akko affirmed.</p><p>Diana refrained from mentioning she wasn’t going to use the staff for heists. While useful, and it’d certainly make her job easier, it felt dishonest. Like cheating. Sure, she was a thief, but she had standards. Was she stupid for thinking that?</p><p><em>No,</em> she thought to herself, thinking back to that horrible moment where the innocent woman had been hurt because of Diana’s failed disguise attempt. <em>Standards is what separates me from the common criminal.</em></p><p>How likely was it that every criminal thought the same way?</p><p>“That’s yet to be seen. We have competent authorities. I’m sure they’ll catch her eventually,” Diana said.</p><p>She could feel the confused stares of the people around her. Had no-one told Akko the truth? Or had they tried and Akko had dismissed them, like Amanda had done? “I hope they don’t. Wonder why she’s collecting all of these items.”</p><p>“What if it’s for an evil plot to conquer the world?” Sucy asked her.</p><p>Diana deadpanned, but Akko chuckled. “No one who was this big a fan of Chariot would want that,” she said.</p><p>“Sometimes I wonder how the hell did you manage to get this far in life with such naïveté,” Barbara said.</p><p>Standing up, Diana tried to hide the small smile on her face. “I find it quite charming,” she absently said. “It’s refreshing, at times, to have such an optimist around.”</p><p>By the time she’d realized how that sounded, her teammates were already giving her eyebrow-raised looks and Sucy smirked at her. “You love having Akko around, then,” it was a statement, not a question.</p><p>“I…” Diana looked down at the brunette, who didn’t seem to quite get the subtext of the conversation. “I… do enjoy her company.”</p><p>“Of course you do, if you didn’t we wouldn’t be friends!” Akko exclaimed, blessedly oblivious.</p><p>“Indeed,” the blonde nodded. Then she turned to her classmates and gestured for them to follow. “Now, however, let’s go find Chariot. I have a few… doubts about her recent lecture.”</p><p>“You, with doubts?” Akko asked.</p><p>“That’s almost more unbelievable than you being Shiny Artemis,” Lotte said. Sucy snickered.</p><p>Diana ignored them, walking out of the classroom, feeling warm after the fun interaction.</p><p> </p><p>Predictably, Chariot was in her room. “Miss du Nord?” Diana said while knocking. “I think we need to have a chat.”</p><p>“Leave her,” Hannah said. “She probably doesn’t know how to take that she’s inspired the best student at school to become a criminal somehow.”</p><p>“Or maybe she’s a fan.”</p><p>“I doubt either is the case,” Diana paused. “But it does seem she doesn’t wanna speak with me, let’s go.” She made sure to sound disappointed and sad. She was getting better at showing emotions.</p><p>The trio was five steps away from the door when it opened slightly. “Diana, wait. Please,” Chariot said, looking at her with some shame. “Come on in- alone, if possible.”</p><p>Nodding, the blonde turned to her teammates, who were smiling at her. “This Shiny Artemis thing is changing you in some interesting ways,” Hannah pointed out. “That’s gotta be worth witnessing.”</p><p>“Need some backup?” Barbara asked.</p><p>“I’ll be alright. Thanks for the concern, you go ahead to have lunch.”</p><p>Hannah and Barbara patted Diana’s shoulders—they’d been getting a bit more touchy with her over the past months, which was both weird and encouraging in equal parts. After they left, Diana was led into Chariot’s room, which was only slightly out of order as usual.</p><p>Alcor perched from the mezzanine’s railing. He cawed softly as a greeting before proceeding to close his eyes and go back to a nap.</p><p>Chariot and Diana ended up sitting at the room’s desk, in front of each other. “So, I’ve finally gotten a chance to speak with you,” Diana said.</p><p>With the decency to look ashamed, Chariot nodded weakly. “I’m sorry, Diana. It’s not that I don’t want to speak with you, it’s just…” She let her red hair out of her ponytail and looked at Diana with quiet intensity. “I’ve been put in an impossible position.”</p><p>The way her fingers fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, the regret on her face and the slight plead in her voice told Diana that she really did feel awful for ignoring her for a while. “Impossible position?”</p><p>Licking her lips, Chariot nodded. “I’ve been… asked to help capture Shiny Artemis. Me and the entire staff of Luna Nova.”</p><p>Diana paused. “Oh, I see.” Well <em>that</em> explained it. “Why haven’t you agreed?”</p><p>Chariot blinked. “Do you <em>want</em> us to capture you?”</p><p>“You have no proof that it’s me, do you?” Diana said. As the previous times she’d tried to make that argument, the reaction she got was of disbelief. “The hair means nothing, and no-one’s gotten Shiny Artemis on camera properly. The thief is stealing Cavendish Heirlooms, right? Why wouldn’t she disguise herself as a member of my family?”</p><p>“Diana…” Chariot pressed her lips. “That kind of logic is fine for rhetoric, but they can still go after you for being a prime suspect. The only reason they haven’t yet is because old magic laws giving the teaching staff power over other kinds of authority inside school. If we agree to help, they’ll come in, search your room, search you and if they find any sort of evidence you’ll be in a cell right besides Croix.” She reached forward with a hand, as if to take Diana’s shoulder, but she stopped and put it back on her lap. “We’ve been telling them there’s no possibility of that being the case, but…”</p><p>“Interacting too much with me can make it look like we’re close, and that you’re protecting me,” Diana realized. Chariot nodded. “I… see. I guess I shouldn’t be here, then.”</p><p>“Yes,” Chariot said in a low voice. “Don’t take it personally, please. We <em>are</em> doing it to protect you.”</p><p>That made Diana press her lips. “Why, though? I’m the thief. Why don’t you turn me in?”</p><p>As an answer, she received a smile. The motherly kind of smile Diana had rarely seen. “Because we all know you’re a good person, Diana. It may not be enough for others, but… You have your reasons, and there is no other witch in this school, or maybe even the world, that every one of us trusts more than you.”</p><p>For the first time in a long time, Diana felt the praise get to her. She suddenly got self conscious of how much everyone respected her. “That’s… silly. I’m a criminal,” Diana said. “What of Miss Finnelan? She’ll certainly…”</p><p>Chariot finally let herself reach forward, putting a hand on top of Diana’s. “You’re a teenager. You’re getting back historical Heirlooms of your family and giving back the money that was paid for them-and you’re not really harming anyone… too much. It may be illegal, but who could blame you?”</p><p>Her eyes, full of kindness, made Diana look away. “All criminals believe their cause to be just.”</p><p>Chariot laughed. “That’s stupid. Plenty of criminals know they’re doing bad things, they just can’t or don’t want to stop,” she squeezed Diana’s hand. “But something being illegal doesn’t make it inherently bad.”</p><p>Diana took a deep breath and looked back at Chariot. “You can’t keep stalling forever,” she said, shifting the course of the conversation. She understood what Chariot was saying, and was humbled that everyone in school would think that of her, but she wasn’t ready to handle that sort of emotional turmoil.</p><p>She liked her performances as Shiny Artemis, and getting her Heirlooms back. She liked the fans.</p><p>But somehow, having the people she respected allow this behavior felt wrong.</p><p>“We don’t have to,” Chariot said, leaning back. “I’ve been asked to try and catch you personally.”</p><p>Diana blinked. “You accepted?”</p><p>“Of course! They want Shiny Chariot to try to catch her copycat,” Chariot smiled. “Not that I’ll manage it,” she winked.</p><p>“Ah, I understand. Won’t they notice if you, well, fail to catch me?”</p><p>Her smile broadened. “You seem to forget who I was before this, Diana. I was a witch and the wielder of the Shiny Rod, but above it all…”</p><p>It clicked. “You were a performer,” Diana realized.</p><p>“And I was pretty good at it, if I do say so myself.” Diana was about to say something else when the crystal ball on top of Chariot’s desk started to blink. “Shoot, that’s probably one of the agents. We probably shouldn’t keep meeting like this, so… I’ll see you whenever you pull off your next heist, alright?”</p><p>Standing, Diana nodded. “Thanks for the explanation.”</p><p>“See you, Diana. And don’t lose sight of your goals—Belief is the source of all magic, right?”</p><p>Listening the ex-idol say the silly ripoff catchphrase made Diana a bit self conscious as she turned and left the room.</p><p>Outside, she walked a few steps before pausing. She leaned against the wall for support, unsure of what she was feeling. That conversation had been an emotional rollercoaster. But… Well, at least she knew now why she’d been ignored.</p><p>And that the teachers of Luna Nova supported her.</p><p>Despite everything, she was still relieved. The morality of it aside, she was glad to know they hadn’t lost their respect for her. That they still considered her a good person and student. She’d have to thank them eventually, once this was all over.</p><p>The first step to doing that, though, was to not let their efforts go to waste. Now more than ever Diana knew: Her path was the righteous one. And she’d follow it to the end.</p><p> </p><p>Diana stared at the list of items and smiled a bit when she saw the last of the crossed items, the staff. Going after a powerful magical item had proved to be as challenging as she’d expected which lead her to wonder if maybe the next targets were going to be less exciting. Especially if Chariot was gonna be there to help her.</p><p>She fidgeted with the handcuffs she’d stolen from that officer. They had an anti-magic spell cast on them—they’d stop anyone wearing them from performing any sort of spell by severing the magic connection of their hands from the rest of the body. These could be really useful at some point, Diana figured, as she had no idea how to create them herself. Maybe she should give them to Constanze, see if she could figure it out.</p><p>While checking the list, she noticed one item she’d glossed over a number of times, but that now caught her attention.</p><p>The Golden Walnut of Gertrude Cavendish.</p><p>Normal walnuts could be enchanted to allow for short-distance teleporting. Diana didn’t use them because the shell left behind could be used to track the user down, and normal teleportation spells were hard and took time to perform unless you had specific links and anchors for it—things that Diana obviously had no time to set up at the places of her heists.</p><p>The Golden Walnut allowed, however, for consistent short-distance teleporting without the need to leave evidence behind. She could definitely use that. But if she didn’t use the Staff of Geomancy, would she really use that? Would that be cheating? She wasn’t sure how it worked exactly. She’d need to study it, but…</p><p>It was owned by an old wizard in Scotland, which wasn’t too far away. The man’s name was Errol Fionnlagh. Diana decided to do a bit extra research. He lived in a tower, like wizards of old, and was apparently a hundred and thirty years old. A bit of a loner, his tower was about four kilometers away from the nearest village. He only appeared there once a month to buy provisions before going back to his lonely life. No partner, no kids… not even a familiar.</p><p>Diana had spoken to the owner of every item in her list, some way or another. She recalled sending a letter to the man about the walnut and receiving an angry reply about it, though not the exact words on it.</p><p>“What’cha doing?” A voice made Diana jump out of her chair and stumble. She was caught by a pair of long arms. “Woah there,” Amanda smirked at her.</p><p>“How… What… The door is locked!” Diana exclaimed, freeing herself from the redhead’s arms and looking at the door, which remained closed.</p><p>“Your window wasn’t!” Amanda declared, proud.</p><p>Diana turned to her with disbelief. “Would you be so kind as to explain to me <em>why</em> you chose to enter through my window in the first place?”</p><p>“Well, your door was locked, duh,” Amanda rolled her eyes.</p><p>Taking a deep breath, Diana pinched the bridge of her nose. “Why didn’t you knock?”</p><p>“Because then you’d have hidden this!” Amanda explained, holding up the list of Heirlooms.</p><p>Diana’s eyes widened as she stepped forward. “Amanda, that is <em>not</em> something you should be looking at.”</p><p>Amanda proceeded to read the scroll. Diana tried to snatch it, but Amanda was faster and kept spinning out of Diana’s reach. “Hmm… That’s a lot of heirlooms. Have you considered getting some help?”</p><p>“Yes, I’ve considered and decided against it, now would you mind?” Why was this happening now?</p><p>Amanda ignored her. “This… Golden Walnut thingy, is it your next target?” she asked.</p><p><em>Nines, give me patience,</em> Diana thought. “No.”</p><p>“Why did you underline it, then?”</p><p>“It’s a possibility,” Diana again lunged forward, but Amanda sidestepped and made Diana crash against the bookshelf she used as a room separator. It shook, and a few scrolls fell out of their places. “Amanda…” Diana’s voice dropped.</p><p>“Interesting,” now Amanda was somehow also holding the notations Diana had made on Errol. “A hermit, huh? He must be a powerful wizard, if he’s that old.”</p><p>“<em>Why</em> are you tormenting me?”</p><p>“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” Amanda stuck her tongue out. “I’m bored out of my mind in this school all day and you’re out there living the dream, I wanna do that too!”</p><p>“This,” Diana finally managed to get her papers back, though she suspected only because Amanda was done with them, “is <em>family</em> business. Nothing you or anyone else should get involved with.” She fixed her hair and stored all of the material related to the heist. “Now, if you don’t mind, I didn’t invite you to my room.”</p><p>Amanda, arms crossed, ignored her and looked around the place. “You know, I don’t think I’ve been here before. Why’d you seclude yourself like that?” she asked, pointing at the bookshelves.</p><p>“Because it makes it makes things more private and- Why am I answering?” Diana pointed an angry finger at the door. “Leave. That’s an order.”</p><p>Amanda smirked. “You can’t give me orders, rich girl,” she said, walking to the couch and dropping on it. “This is really comfortable, how come you’re allowed to have all of this stuff?”</p><p>Diana covered her face with a hand to stop Amanda from seeing the building rage inside her. After composing herself, she put on her most neutral face. “I am a descendant of one of the most important witches in human history, I am the top student of this school and, according to some, the witch of the century. On top of that, as you’ve mentioned, my family is rich. Now would you <em>please-</em>”</p><p>“Listen, Diana,” Amanda didn’t even bother to stand as she interrupted. “Do you know what the biggest trouble I ever got in for was?”</p><p>“You stole the labeled ‘Wings of The Morrígan’, a historical artifact that uses the inherent magic of every human to power flight. Your stunt got them removed from the museum they were being shown and stored back, stealing everyone’s chances to ever see it on public display like that again.”</p><p>“Wow,” Amanda seemed surprised that she’d actually known. “Well, yes. But I didn’t know the whole ‘use my magic’ thing, so as soon as I got them, I put them on—and of course, our bodies don’t hold a lot of magic. I flew for about thirty seconds before falling and breaking both my legs and an arm.”</p><p>“Where are you going with this?”</p><p>“Well, I only failed because I wasn’t fully aware of what I was doing. But think!” She pointed at the sky. “You and me, Diana! Your knowledge, my skills. We’d be unstoppable!”</p><p>Diana sighed. Alright. It was clear it wasn’t possible to reason with her. “No,” she said. “You’d do nothing but drag me down.”</p><p>Amanda froze. “Excuse me?”</p><p>“You’re an undisciplined troublemaker,” Diana said, stepping closer to the couch. “You can steal from a museum, sure, but you did so unannounced and with the advantage of magic in a non-magical place--and you got caught! You can fly well, you’re acrobatic, but can you perform a barrier breaking spell?”</p><p>“Well, no, but-”</p><p>“Can you spend days watching and planning for a single heist? Can you deal with the pressure of the authorities, with the idea of going to jail at the first mistake you make?” Diana kept getting closer. “Do you know how to steal another person’s clothing? Do you know how to make yourself invisible, how to teleport?” Amanda, taken aback, gave no answer. “No. No, you can’t, because you’re not a match for me, Amanda O’Neill. You surpass me in a single area: The physical. I am smarter at you, more studied, more talented and <em>more powerful.</em> You do <em>not</em> come into my room, invade my privacy and act nonchalant all without permission and then have the gall to call us ‘equals’ when you can’t even cast a single spell to unlock a door.”</p><p>“Hey, I <em>can</em> cast that!”</p><p>“Then use it to <em>leave,</em>” Diana finished.</p><p>Amanda waited for a few moments, meeting her eyes. Then, slowly, she rose, not blinking. “I get what you’re doing,” she said with a smirk, but there was no humor in it. “But that cut deep, Diana,” she turned to the door and flicked her wand, showing that she could, indeed, cast the spell to unlock it. “I guess that’s what I get for coming in uninvited.”</p><p>Diana said nothing, watching the redhead walk out with a slow gait.</p><p>“But,” Amanda turned to look at her one last time. “Don’t think I’m gonna leave it like this.”</p><p>She stood there, but Diana didn’t give an answer to the obvious taunt. After a few seconds, she turned and left the room.</p><p>With a sigh, Diana dropped on the couch and-</p><p>“Oops, forgot this,” Amanda suddenly popped back in, waved her wand, and a broom entered through the window and into her hand. “Bye,” she smiled apologetically as she left.</p><p>Diana couldn’t help chuckling as the door closed. Now that dramatic last phrase had been ruined.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm writing at a steady pace, and am already fearing this fanfic is gonna be a long one. Welp, whatcha gonna do, hope you enjoy the ride.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Constanze wasn’t in her workshop today.</p><p>Diana looked around the place, surprised at how tidy everything was whenever the mechanic wasn’t in it. It wasn’t filthy, either. It couldn’t be called ‘clean’, but whenever Constanze was around things always felt… messier.</p><p>There was a couch down here. Diana touched it, grimacing a bit at the touch. It clearly hadn’t been washed in quite a while. Maybe…</p><p>Taking her wand, Diana cast a spell to create water. There were cleaning spells, of course, but they were inefficient with things this big. After soaking the couch thoroughly, she created some soap. Then she invoked a few of the brushes from the laundry room and levitated them and the couch, making the magic furiously get rid of stains and other such things as best she could. It took her about ten minutes, but once she was satisfied, she put the brushes away and created water again—but with more strength this time, creating a powerful water jet that rinsed the couch of the soap and everything with it.</p><p>After being done, Diana simply cast a spell to get rid of all the water she’d created—including whatever was left on the couch. She then took the broom already down there and rounded up all of the filth left behind by the washwater, throwing it inside the trash can.</p><p>Finally, she allowed herself to sit and relax.</p><p>Constanze entered about thirty seconds later.</p><p>Pausing, the tiny witch eyed the place, as if noticing something was out of place. Diana said nothing, she didn’t know if maybe she’d be offended by Diana doing what she did. Not that it helped. Instantly, Constanze sniffed the air and approached the couch. She smelled Diana—which made her a bit uncomfortable—and then stuck her head to the couch and took one deep breath.</p><p>Blinking with surprise, she turned to Diana and pointed at the couch.</p><p>“Uhm… it was somewhat dirty, so I took it upon myself to wash it,” Diana explained. “I hope you’re not bothered by-”</p><p>Constanze put a hand up to shut her. She looked Diana in the eyes and, very slowly and meticulously, lifted a thumb and nodded once with approval, making a little grunt. With some relief, Diana smiled. “Good to know you appreciate it.”</p><p>After that, Constanze turned and went to her work bench. She looked through her stuff until she came out with the handcuffs Diana had stolen. Or… no, they weren’t. The chain was thicker, and the metal was slightly shinier. Gesturing for her to come closer, Constanze took a small vial that seemed to hold some pure magic. She made it pass through one of the sides of the cuff, and the magic was pushed back and back until Constanze couldn’t move the vial up anymore, as all the magic was compressed at its bottom due to the anti-magic enchantment.<br/>“Wow,” Diana said, surprised. But Constanze raised a finger. She wasn’t done.</p><p>Taking the vial out, she then opened the cuffs, put the vial in the middle of it, and closed them. The magic… stayed as it was. Until she moved it up and down: The magic had been split, the upper and lower halves now flowing differently as Constanze pressed it against the top or bottom.</p><p>Diana paused. “That’s really interesting. It means that if they handcuff me before closing the cuffs, my hands would still have enough of a connection to magic to cast one last spell.”</p><p>Constanze nodded. But she raised her finger once more; she wasn’t done. She went to dig through some of her items in a shelf and came out with… a ring? Or something like that. It was a thin sheet of metal in the shape of a tube. She put it around the vial, then repeated what she’d done before—slowly passing the it through the cuffs.</p><p>This time, the magic inside was only pushed up until the ring. When the cuffs and the ring lined up, the magic was suddenly released from the pressure. “A counter enchantment,” Diana said. “Interesting. It could save me a lot of trouble.”</p><p>Constanze grimaced, shaking her head slowly. She pointed to her wrist and made a series of gestures that Diana didn’t fully get. “Uhm… You can’t… make it bigger?” she guessed. To her surprise, Constanze nodded. “Ah. It’s impressive that you’ve even managed to do that, truth be told. Don’t stress over it, it’s not my plan to ever be in a position where I even need that—though if you could continue developing it, I’m sure it could come in useful.”</p><p>Diana extended a hand to see the replica of the cuffs. “But you <em>did</em> manage to replicate these. I’m truly impressed, Constanze. I knew you were better than me in the enchantment of non-organic materials, but...” she trailed off, noticing something else. “These cuffs have no key?”</p><p>Constanze, who had been smiling at the praise, shook her head. Instead, she took out a small needle and put it in a hole Diana hadn’t first seen. This released both sides of the cuff. “Huh. Guess that makes it harder to pick open, if you don’t know what you’re up against.” The mechanic smiled, proud. “Well, thank you, Constanze,” Diana reached into her clothes and gave the mechanic another envelope. “I’ll see you later.”</p><p>After a wave and a thumb up from Constanze, she turned to go… though not before noticing how Constanze walked over to the couch and smelled it once more.</p><p> </p><p>“Damn it,” Akko said as she tried again to remember something they’d done that same day in class. “I know I managed to do it…”</p><p>“Partly,” Diana corrected. “You performed a deformation spell rather than a transfiguration spell,” she pointed at the piece of wood Akko was looking at. “You need to turn that into something <em>other</em> than wood, not into a wooden cup.”</p><p>“Shouldn’t that be impossible? Aren’t there rules about not transforming matter or something like that?” Akko said.</p><p>“Well, alchemy is a branch of magic that follows the rule of equivalent exchange, but for this, those differences are filled in with magic,” Diana explained.</p><p>“Oh, do you know how to do alchemy?” Akko asked.</p><p>Diana shrugged. “I know the basics, have performed simple transmutations, but it’s not a branch I’m interested in pursuing.”</p><p>Akko pouted. “I wanted to see if you could turn lead into gold.”</p><p>The comment brought a chuckle out of Diana. “Sorry, that is impossible to do with mere alchemy. But we could do it with this spell,” she pointed at the wood, which was propped on pedestal in the middle of Diana’s room. “Spell which you should be practicing.”</p><p>“Alright, alright,” Akko sighed, and kept practicing. Every time she failed, Diana turned the results of the spell—things of wood or of different materials, but none what Diana had asked of her—back to its original state for Akko to try again. Wood was a surprisingly malleable substance in the field of magic, maybe even the most receptive to it. Or maybe not so surprisingly, given that all magic originated from Yggdrasil, the world tree.</p><p>Diana watched her practice. When she wasn’t distracted by trivialities, she could put in the needed work to pass any test. Getting her to focus was a the problem, but Diana had learned that it helped to engage shortly with her distractions before directing her attention back to the task at hand.</p><p>As usual, the brunette lasted a few more minutes before again growing frustrated and looking elsewhere for some serotonin. “Why are these spells so hard?” She said, throwing her hands in the air.</p><p>“They’re not that complicated, but… well, you spent years under the effects of Fuel Spirit,” Diana tried to explain. “It took me a while to get back to normal. Give it some time, I’m sure you will eventually be on the same level as everyone else. In the meantime, I find admirable your ability to get by.”</p><p>One of the many things Diana liked about Akko was how easy it was to read her. A smile grew on her as a response to Diana’s comment. “Oh shoot, you don’t need to praise me like that,” she said while scratching the back of her neck.</p><p>“Do you want to take a break?” Diana offered. They <em>had</em> been going at this exercise for a while.</p><p>“Sure!” Akko nodded energetically, jumping at the chance.</p><p>She walked over to the couch and dropped while Diana quickly prepared some tea for them both. She enjoyed these times with Akko. The time they spent together was relaxing for the blonde, even if Hannah and Barbara seemed to think otherwise.</p><p>When Diana sat down in the lone sofa and served their tea, Akko was doing some strange movements with her wand. “What… are you doing?” Diana asked.</p><p>“Some security footage from Shiny Artemis was leaked,” Akko explained. “She has such a theatrical flair when she moves, it’s like Chariot’s! I need to be able to move like that if I want to be like either of them one day.”</p><p>Diana’s eyebrows raised with some surprised. “Either? Do you plan on becoming a gentlewoman thief, Akko?”</p><p>“Well, no…” Akko paused. “But I still dig the style!”</p><p>As tended to happen, Diana felt some conflict at Akko being so into Shiny Artemis. She didn’t dislike Akko liking her… but it wasn’t <em>her</em> her. Or maybe it was that she seemed to like that her more than the her she actually knew and that wasn’t the her Diana wanted Akko to like.</p><p>Diana had to stop her train of thought, she was starting to confuse even herself.</p><p>“Do you want to… meet her?” Diana asked. “Shiny Artemis, I mean.”</p><p>“Of course!” Akko said. “I’m not sure if she’d like to meet her fans, like Chariot sometimes did—doing a meetup would get her captured, I suppose—but if I could one day see her in person, I’d like to tell her how awesome she is. And maybe ask her why she’s stealing those things.”</p><p>“And if she’s a bad person?”</p><p>Akko laughed. “That’s impossible! I didn’t bring my crystal ball, but there was this moment in her last heist—she gave up a disguise to stop one of the guards that were against her from being harmed! She, well, harmed another guard in return, but he was an asshole so that was fine.”</p><p><em>How much got leaked? And who leaks these things, anyways?</em> Diana thought.</p><p>“I know you probably don’t like her much,” Akko continued, “but I hope she doesn’t get caught. I’d be willing to bet my life that she’s a good person.”</p><p><em>So naïve. </em>But that was part of her charm, too. Diana took a sip of her tea before pointing at the pin Akko wore. “And what about that? I’ve seen some students wearing that around school.”</p><p>“Ah, it’s how we show we’re fans! I’ve been making new friends thanks to that, actually. Elfried and Mary really like her theatrics too, and Jeanne wants to know more about her sword-wand. Oh, and Ester keeps trying to figure out if there’s some hidden plan behind it all…” Akko begun a long explanation about Ester theories, none of which were even remotely accurate. Plenty of people wouldn’t know the connection between all of the items was that they were all Cavendish Heirlooms, and Diana wasn’t sure if that had been mentioned in the articles about her.</p><p>As Akko spoke, Diana tried to think of her next objective. The Golden Walnut would be a different kind of challenge to retrieve, as she would be going up against an experienced and powerful wizard. In fact, Diana wasn’t even sure if she’d be able to take him on. Maybe she <em>should</em> have accepted the help of Amanda. The redhead was athletic without the need of magic; she’d be more efficient against anti-magic fields. But that was out of the question. She would not get help from anyone, no exceptions.</p><p>“… and that’s why Shiny Artemis might actually be a reincarnation of Morgan le Fay,” Akko concluded.</p><p>Diana, who only heard the last part, blinked in her direction. “Well that’s certainly… something,” she said, unsure of what kind of twisted logic would ever lead anyone to believe that.</p><p>“Yeah, I know,” Akko chuckled. “Ah, I wonder what she does in her free time. Think she has a normal life? Or maybe she has a secret base somewhere.”</p><p>“I’m not qualified to answer that,” Diana said, wondering if this room could be considered a secret base. Or a base at all.</p><p>Akko paused. “Oh, sorry. I’m probably bothering you with all this talk about a thief,” she said, growing self conscious.</p><p>“Nonsense,” Diana instantly replied. “I enjoy talking with you.” <em>Even if I just ignored a bit of what you said,</em> Diana thought with some regret.</p><p>“Aren’t you annoyed that the thief has hair like yours? A lot of people seem to think you’re the thief because of that,” Akko said, the question so genuine that Diana almost looked away in shame.</p><p><em>Oh, sweet Nines, I </em>really<em> should tell her.</em></p><p>“Not at all. Anyone can wear a wig,” Diana explained.</p><p>“See? That’s what I tell everyone, but there’s still people who insist you’re the thief! It’s so stupid,” Akko shook her head.</p><p>“Yeah…” Diana decided she didn’t like where the conversation was going. “But if you’ve finished that tea, I suggest we go back to practicing.”</p><p>Akko looked at her now empty cup and sighed. “Ok, let’s go,” she stood and walked over to the piece of wood again.</p><p>For the rest of the practice session was the standard affair, save for the fact that Diana kept trying to figure out how to tell Akko she was Shiny Artemis without offending her.</p><p> </p><p>“What’s up with you and Amanda?” Barbara asked after their first class of the morning ended.</p><p>“Why do you ask?” Diana asked, faking innocence.</p><p>“She stared daggers at you all the time,” Hannah said. “Call me crazy but I think she’s mad at you.”</p><p>Amanda was <em>that</em> obvious, then. With a dismissive wave of the hand, Diana explained, “she wanted to help Shiny Artemis, I told her no. She seems to hold a grudge about it.”</p><p>“She wanted to…” Barbara shook her head and laughed. “How silly!”</p><p>“Of course. If Diana ever needs help, she has us!” Hannah added. As she laughed, she patted Diana’s back—but she did so a bit too harshly, and Diana stumbled forward.</p><p>The nothingness caught her.</p><p>Diana paused, feeling an arm around her waist, but there was no-one there. Both Barbara and Hannah paused their laughs, looking at Diana with the same confusion she felt. She was hanging at a forty-five degree angle.</p><p>A second later, a figure appeared out of thin air: The topic of the conversation herself. “As you can see,” Amanda said with a smirk. “I <em>can</em> turn myself invisible.”</p><p>Diana freed herself from her arm and wiped the shock from her face. She examined Amanda up and down. “You learnt the spell in just a couple days,” she concluded. “That’s impressive.”</p><p>“I know!” Amanda’s chest swelled with pride. “So, still think I’m no good?”</p><p>“Well, you’ve proved to be good at catching me when I stumble,” Diana said, “but this doesn’t change my assessment of the rest of your character.”</p><p>“Really, now?” Amanda crossed her arms. “I bet I can learn everything you need before you pull off your next work.”</p><p>Diana shook her head. “You can’t compress years of study into a couple days and expect things to turn out fine, Amanda. Spells can fail, misfire or even backfire if you don’t do them properly.”</p><p>“We won’t know until we try, right?”</p><p>Someone pushed Diana aside. Barbara and Hannah stepped in between the blonde and the redhead. “Who the hell do you think you are to be so pushy?” Hannah asked.</p><p>“Diana has no need of any help, and least of all from you,” Barbara added.</p><p>Amanda rolled her eyes. “You should get your lapdogs on a leash,” she completely ignored the duo and stared at the blonde.</p><p>“Hannah, Barbara,” Diana hesitantly put her hands on their shoulders. “It’s alright. Let’s do this,” she looked at Amanda and sorted through her options. “I’ll hide the scroll with all the info needed for my heist in my room. If you can steal it by tomorrow without me noticing, I’ll let you come with me.”</p><p>Her teammates turned to her with shock, while Amanda’s expression shifted to one of confidence. “You’re serious?”</p><p>“The test begins today after lunch. If you manage to find the scroll—I’ll turn it a bright red so that you can recognize it—and take it before tomorrow at six in the morning, you’ve won.”</p><p>“Diana, you don’t have to-” Barbara tried to stop her, but Amanda walked in between the pair and stuck her hand out.</p><p>“Deal?” She asked with quiet intensity.</p><p>Diana shook the hand. A second later, Amanda was off, probably already trying to figure out how to spy on Diana as she hid the scroll in the first place.</p><p>“Uhm, Diana?” Hannah asked. “Why would you make that deal?”</p><p>Walking forward as if nothing had happened, Diana explained, “She’s determined. If we do this, her hurt pride will keep her away for the time being.”</p><p>“And…” Barbara hesitated. “And what if she manages it?”</p><p>While under any other circumstances it would’ve been a fair question, Diana replied with a small smile. “I severely doubt that will happen.”</p><p> </p><p>The terms were very clear: If Diana found out Amanda had taken the scroll before tomorrow morning, the redhead lost.</p><p>Of course, Amanda had completely missed that this went against the concept of a phantom thief. You didn’t steal things without anyone knowing: You did so under everyone’s noses, right as the treasures they’re protecting are most heavily guarded.</p><p>Diana just had to put a series of very basic alarm spells… well, everywhere. She attuned them to Amanda specifically—using one of her orange hairs, which she’d so kindly left behind when she’d reclined on the couch—so that the alarm wouldn’t go off when her teammates or a cleaning fairy stepped in and then was satisfied. If Amanda entered the room she’d be detected. If she managed to break that spell, there was other waiting for her in every individual plank of the floor. On every book, on every scroll. And of course, on Diana’s bed, mattress, sheets, pillow and on the scroll now hidden inside it.</p><p>Every step she took, every movement she made, it would be detected. And Diana would be alerted instantly.</p><p>And if she somehow managed to get through all of this, well… Maybe it <em>was</em> worth considering bringing her over.</p><p>But that was silly. She’d never manage. Even if she tried casting counter-spells, which Diana doubted she knew, there was still one last line of defense, an infallible one: Diana could just check her pillow. If the scroll was missing, then Amanda had stolen it. That would count as Diana noticing. Amanda would lose.</p><p>There was no way for her to win. Still, Diana was curious to see how she attempted it. In the meantime, she needed to run downstairs and get some lunch before the break was over.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Fun Fact: In between the publication of the last chapter and this one, I cut my finger, which made writing kinda painful... and I still managed to output a surprisingly high number of words anyways.<br/>Well, enough bragging, hope you enjoyed! Leave a comment!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>To Diana’s surprise, there was no alarm activation for the rest of the day.</p><p>By night, as she was about to sleep, she checked the scroll. It was still there, and it wasn’t a replacement or anything like that. Maybe Amanda had given up, or maybe she hadn’t figured a way to do as Diana had asked. Either way, once Diana set down to sleep, it’d be all over—there’d be no way for anyone to take it without Diana noticing.</p><p>“See?” Barbara, who had peeked into Diana’s side of the room, said. “We told you there’d be no way she managed to do it.”</p><p>Diana nodded, putting the scroll back in place. “That was the idea. What surprises me is that she didn’t seem to even attempt it,” she explained. “Or if she did, she didn’t manage to do it.”</p><p>“I bet she realized she couldn’t do it and just gave up,” Hannah said from the other side of the bookshelf.</p><p>That was unlikely at best, but Diana made no comment. Instead, she walked over to the different windows in the room—all of which she’d locked—to see if any of the alarms there had been dispelled. No. No spells were missing from the floor boards, either. She did a checkup of every spell she’d cast—it took her ten minutes in which Barbara and Hannah were clearly waiting for her to turn off the lights and go to sleep—and they were all still in place.</p><p>Something didn’t sit well with Diana, but whatever the case, Amanda wasn’t going to manage it.</p><p>“Good night, girls,” Diana said to her teammates, who were already in bed.</p><p>They both replied in weak and drowsy voices, so Diana simply turned the lights off and went to sleep. She wondered if Amanda would wake her up in the middle of the night or not…</p><p> </p><p>Diana opened her eyes. No alarm was needed, despite all of her late night-studying sessions and more recent adventures, as long the day was a school day—like today’s Friday—then she’d always wake up roughly at six.</p><p>She stood from bed, yawned, stretched and started with her morning routine. As she did, she remembered the whole bet thing, so with some tiredness she checked the pillow and-</p><p>The scroll.</p><p>It wasn’t there.</p><p>How many seconds passed as she stood there, her brain failing to process it, was a mystery. Her thoughts collapsed from the possibilities. When she slept? Impossible, she had her head <em>on top of it.</em> Had yesterday’s been a fake one? No, she’d made sure of it.</p><p>Then, a slow but meaningful chuckle started. Diana turned around, but didn’t find it until she looked up and saw Amanda peeking over her bookshelf from the other side of the room. She was laughing hard now, and Diana quickly rounded the bookshelf—only to find Hannah and Barbara smirking next to her.</p><p>“What is the meaning of this?” Diana demanded.</p><p>“You got bamboozled, that’s what!” Amanda claimed, holding high the scroll.</p><p>Diana looked at her teammates, who were clearly involved in the ordeal somehow. “Sorry,” Barbara said. “We had to do it.”</p><p>“Do what, exactly?”</p><p>Hannah shrugged. “We helped her.”</p><p>The shock in Diana’s face must have been evident, because Amanda walked over and threw an arm around her shoulders, waving the scroll in front of her face. “You see, my dear Diana,” she spoke in a pretentious voice, possibly trying to mimic Diana’s own speech, “yesterday, as I weighed my options during lunch, these two walked by, and the idea struck me.”</p><p>Barbara stepped forward. “She sat at our table and suggested we help her.”</p><p>“And you accepted?” Diana asked in disbelief.</p><p>“No, of course not,” Hannah chuckled. “We told her to stop bothering us.”</p><p>“But then I used my charm to get them to help me anyways,” Amanda said.</p><p>“By that,” Barbara rolled her eyes, “she means that she made a very compelling argument.”</p><p>The mere idea of Amanda somehow convincing her friends to help her was outrageous. “What could he possibly have said?”</p><p>Amanda squeezed her in a playful and <em>highly</em> annoying way. “That if I won, then you’d be safer on your heists.”</p><p>It only took the slight nod from her teammates for Diana to understand the entire thought process behind it. Hannah and Barbara had expressed their worry many times, but Diana was determined. Since she refused to let them help, maybe sending Amanda as a backup…</p><p>“And with this,” Hannah added, “we also proved that help can sometimes be the key to success.”</p><p>“We can give you a speech on the power of friendship, if you want,” Amanda joked.</p><p>Diana pushed her away, massaging her temples while taking deep breaths. “I… I guess I lost. I shouldn’t have keyed the spells on the scroll specifically to you only.” She should’ve realized that. What if she’d sent her teammates to do the job? Or if she took one of the stanbots? There was more to this security business than she’d realized. She turned to the three of them and sighed. “Alright,” she said. “I’ll let you come with me on this next heist, Amanda.” She was a woman of her word.</p><p>“Sweet,” Amanda smiled.</p><p>“And you two,” Diana directed a harsh look at her teammates, who seemed to freeze in place. “I’ll… consider letting you help. Next time,” she said. They relaxed. Smiling and looking at each other, they held back from saying anything, but Diana could tell they would have probably squealed a bit should it not be six in the morning. “But don’t look so satisfied, Amanda.” Diana pointed a finger at the redhead. “We leave tomorrow and will be out until Sunday night. You need to be prepared.”</p><p>“Wonderful, I’ll go train and-”</p><p>Diana shook her head. “I don’t mean physically prepared. We’ll go visit my mechanic, get you suited up.”</p><p>Amanda paused. “Mechanic? You mean…”</p><p>“Yes, your own teammate. We’ll have to go during lunch, though. Now, if you don’t mind,” Diana looked down at her pajamas, “I still need to change.”</p><p> </p><p>“Should we really be coming with?” Hannah and Barbara asked when they stepped into Amanda’s room. The perk of now being ‘associated’ with the redhead was that she could use the proper entrance to the underground workshop.</p><p>Diana wasn’t entirely sure of how it worked. Being on the fourth floor of school, but leading to the basement? The entrance must have been a special pocket of space Constanze had somehow crafted. Whatever the case, it was impressive that no-one at school had ever realized she’d done this.</p><p>“If you’re to help me some day, I’d prefer you be prepared beforehand,” she explained.</p><p>Then, one by one, they jumped into the workshop.</p><p>They day had been full of Amanda pestering her for information. Diana had explained her process for stealing and all possible details on their current target. The redhead was not at all concerned about going up against a powerful wizard, while Diana was still wondering if she’d picked the right target.</p><p>Too late to be reconsidering now, though. As usual, the mechanic was down here, working on something… wait, was that…?</p><p>“Ah, you did it!” Amanda, who came right after Diana, ran over to the desk where Constanze was working on another rapier. This one was silvery. Before Amanda could touch it, though, Constanze put up a hand to block her.</p><p>The silver rapier was thinner and shorter than Diana’s, but its knuckle guard was wider, even if it didn’t cover both sides like Diana’s. The biggest difference, though, was that it didn’t look much like a wand. It had the appearance of a standard rapier.</p><p>“You’re gonna have a rapier too?” Hannah was the first one to ask.</p><p>Amanda nodded. “Obviously! And there’s more. I’ve already decided what my getup’s gonna be. Constanze will have it done by tomorrow for sure.”</p><p>Diana raised an eyebrow. “Really now?” she asked. “Why didn’t you tell me?”</p><p>“It’s a surprise,” Amanda winked at her.</p><p>That kind of surprise wasn’t needed, but… it was somewhat in line with the spirit of drama Diana tried to follow as a phantom thief, so she guessed that was alright. She had an entire day to figure it out. “Getup aside, Constanze,” Diana directed herself to the girl who, at this point, would likely need an entire money salary instead of the work-by-work payment Diana was giving her now. “I suspect you still have the tools you made for a potential sidekick?”</p><p>Constanze, still working on the rapier, nodded and did a few gestures with her hands without looking back. “Really now?” Amanda asked. “Cool.”</p><p>The blue team looked at the redhead with confusion.</p><p>“She says she’s already implemented it all in my outfit, since I don’t have a magical bag.”</p><p><em>“Fast worker, right?”</em> a random voice came through from… somewhere. Everyone but Constanze looked around. <em>“She’s gonna make it big when she grows up,”</em> the voice said again, and their eyes were drawn to a little box on Constanze’s work bench… a radio? Wait, that voice…</p><p>“Croix?” Barbara was the first to recognize it.</p><p><em>“Correct,”</em> Croix’s voice was a bit distorted, but still recognizable. <em>“I still want to get Constanze to build some sort of screen, though. It can be hard communicating just through Morse code and grunts.”</em></p><p>“How… Where are you?” Hannah asked. “Weren’t you supposed to be in prison?”</p><p><em>“No, no, no,”</em> Croix laughed. <em>“I’m a prisoner, but I’ve got research to do! My genius can’t simply be caged, you know,”</em> she sounded as egotistic as always<em>. “I’m in New Zealand right now, looking for a magical flower that’s said to cure any illnesses. I figure that with the return of magic it may be able to bloom again and all of that.”</em></p><p>“Alone?” Diana asked.</p><p><em>“Nah, I always have a couple of wizards looking over my shoulder. Well, not always . Right now they’re waiting back at the camp. I’m not allowed to use magic without supervision, though,”</em> Croix explained. <em>“But enough about me, how’s the thief thing coming?”</em></p><p>“You know?” Diana asked, mortified.</p><p><em>“Everyone who knows you knows, kiddo,”</em> Croix said. <em>“Plus, do you really think Constanze came up with all of those things alone? She’s great at mechanical magic, but I’m the number one techno-magic witch in the world. That mask that will save your ass from now on? Half of it was my ideas.”</em></p><p>Diana blinked. That made sense. Mechanical magic and techno-magic weren’t strictly the same, even if parts of it were related. “So you’ve been helping her?”</p><p>
  <em>“For months now. The girl hacked into my radio’s wavelength somehow and we’ve been in contact since then.”</em>
</p><p>A thousand questions flew through Diana’s mind. None of them were relevant right now. Constanze stepped away from the rapier at last, letting Amanda hold it. “Perfectly balanced, wonderful.”</p><p>“It is a problem that it’s not a wand, though,” Diana pointed out.</p><p>“Oh, but it is!” Amanda pointed forward, the tip of the sword lighting up, and a sheet of metal levitated out of a scrap box.</p><p>“Huh. I thought…” Diana paused. “No, of course. Wands can take on many forms, they don’t need the half circle at the end, even if it helps with channeling.”</p><p>“Guess my rapier is more advanced than yours, eh?” Amanda gave her a cheeky smile.</p><p>Diana took offense at that. “My rapier-wand is based on an ancient and traditional design, used by witches of old to-”</p><p>Amanda interrupted her with a faked gag. “Ugh, history class was two hours ago,” she said. “Anyways, Cons, can it do <em>that?</em>” Constanze nodded and gave her a thumb up. “Wonderful!”</p><p>“Do what?” Hannah asked, looking at the rapier with curiosity.</p><p>Without answering, Amanda threw the rapier to the air and jumped after it. A second later, the sword became longer, thicker. It widened its guard, and hair- No, <em>hay</em> seemed to grow out of it. Amanda landed on it a second later.</p><p>It was a broom.</p><p>“Neat, eh?” she said as she surfed around the room on it.</p><p>Diana couldn’t help being amazed. Wands turning into brooms wasn’t impossible, but it wasn’t the most practical of practices. Amanda laughed as she circled above their heads. She was having genuine fun with the broom, and her face had brightened up. “It is impressive.”</p><p>“This way I don’t have to call my escape vehicle, I’ll always have it with me,” Amanda explained.</p><p>“It is, indeed, useful. Wand brooms tend to be slower than proper full-fledged brooms, but the versatility is a fair advantage.”</p><p>“You’ll be thankful for this if we ever need to get out in a pinch,” Amanda said, coming back down and turning the broom back into a rapier. “Too bad it can’t be smaller.”</p><p><em>“Be thankful for what you have,” </em>Croix said, <em>“It’s hard enough making a wand-broom like that with so much metal. Be careful with the wooden core, too.”</em></p><p>“Wooden core… the handle?” Diana asked.</p><p>
  <em>“Yes. It’s sort of built like one of Luna Nova’s old wands, with a magic battery inside.”</em>
</p><p>“Because metal is a horrible conductor, and it needs the extra magic to be able to work,” Diana deduced.</p><p><em>“As expected, you figured it out instantly,</em>” Croix said. <em>“So maybe the wand isn’t as advanced as firehead over there seems to think.”</em></p><p>Amanda rolled her eyes. “It’s still cooler than Diana’s,” she claimed.</p><p>
  <em>“Ah, my alarm just sounded. I’ll leave you guys to do the fitting for the other two, gotta get back to camp. Pleasure to speak with people who actually speak.”</em>
</p><p>And the radio went silent.</p><p>“Didn’t expect to find Croix of all people working with Constanze,” Barbara said.</p><p>“As long as she doesn’t give up Diana’s secret…” Hannah stared menacingly at the radio. Diana suspected Croix wouldn’t be able to tell it was directed at her.</p><p>“But enough of me or my amazing weapon,” Amanda said, smiling. Constanze stepped forward and started taking their measurements without even asking them.</p><p>“I did wish to let Amanda experiment with her gadgets in here, instead of once we’re out,” Diana said. “But I guess that’ll be impossible if they’re now implemented in Amanda’s suit.”</p><p>“Don’t worry, I’ll master them by Sunday, I’m sure,” Amanda said with such confidence that it almost tricked Diana into believing her.</p><p>“Just in case,” Diana walked over to the couch, “our plan of action should be one that doesn’t involve anything you can’t do with your own capabilities or simple tools.”</p><p>Amanda scoffed and dropped on the couch next to Diana. “Stop being such a worrywart, we’ll do great,” she was about to stretch an arm around Diana’s shoulders again, but Diana stopped her. Amanda deadpanned her before smirking again. “Shiny Artemis and me, the fantastic duo!”</p><p>“Soon to be quartet,” Hannah from the spot where Constanze was still taking her measurements. A tiny stanbot had come closer and was taking notes for her.</p><p>Diana cleared her throat. “I haven’t yet decided if-”</p><p>“Amanda’s helping you, we’re gonna help too some way or another,” Barbara didn’t let her finish.</p><p>Diana sighed. She wasn’t going to win this argument, not anymore. For now, all that was left was hoping Amanda was a good enough helper next time around to not get in the way.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Today I finished writing what I'm gonna call 'part one' of this fanfic, which I hope you are enjoying. On top of that, I also finished watching Carmen Sandiego. Y'all should watch that too, especially if you're enjoying this fanfic, as it is a show about a thief.<br/>Anyways, don't forget to comment!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The tower was less impressive than Diana expected.</p>
<p>Instead of the impossibly tall and thin building she’d envisioned, it was a… normal, two-story building. Round and made of stone, with a conical roof and tiny windows. It wasn’t ugly or anything of the sort, but it definitely wasn’t what first came to mind when one thought of a ‘Wizard’s Tower’.</p>
<p>The land surrounding it was quite beautiful, though. Mountains as far as the eye could see, a lake right next to the tower that was as clear as bottled water, and green and yellow grass that made the barren land relaxing to look at. As any good magical building, the tower didn’t exist unless you knew it was there, and at the tip of its roof a now useless philosopher stone shone brightly.</p>
<p>“So…” Amanda said, “we now look at the building for the rest of the day?”</p>
<p>“Yes,” Diana said. “I’ll walk around the terrain, see if there are magical protections in place. You stay here, don’t move and don’t approach the tower. Keep watch, if the man inside comes out make sure to stay out of view.”</p>
<p>“Isn’t that boring?” Amanda asked. Diana deadpanned. “Alright alright, I’ll follow your orders.”</p>
<p>“Perfect,” Diana smiled. She untied the ribbon from her waist and gave it to Amanda. “In case of an emergency, burn this.”</p>
<p>Amanda blinked. “<em>Burn</em> it?”</p>
<p>“Everything related to Shiny Artemis is there. If burnt, no evidence will be left behind. There’s a lighter in it, in case you don’t know a fire spell.”</p>
<p>“You’d really destroy it all?”</p>
<p>“Yes,” Diana nodded. Losing the enchanted cape would be a shame, but it was a risk she was willing to pay. “Now pay attention,” she ordered before turning and walking away</p>
<p>She rounded the place they were in. A flat area about halfway down a mountain, almost like a platform, where a small lake formed. The valley below had a small stream running through it, and some small trees had managed to grow near it despite the cold. The tower was very centered in regards to the platform itself, which allowed Diana to go around it without getting too close. Despite her earlier disappointment, she had to admit the tower itself looked cozy and well done. She wouldn’t mind living in a place like that.</p>
<p>By the time she’d finished rounding the place, finding no spells to protect it, she dared hope this wouldn’t be as hard a theft as she’d first expected. Then again, she hadn’t sent her calling card yet. There was no reason for the man to think anyone was going to attack him…</p>
<p>Was that Amanda sleeping? She laid on the grass, belly up, hands behind her head.</p>
<p>“Hey,” Diana stood over the redhead with her arms crossed. “I was only gone fifteen minutes, you know?”</p>
<p>Amanda’s eyes snapped open. “Uhm? Ah, yes, the man didn’t move, promise.”</p>
<p>Diana sighed. “I see you’re not taking this seriously.”</p>
<p>“I am!” Amanda said. “But come on, Diana. It’s a two story small tower. Send the calling card, we go in, we steal it in a heartbeat, then we run. I want something a bit more exciting, you know?”</p>
<p>“Sorry, the first part is always this. We examine, we watch. We send a calling card, we examine and watch again, and then we seal,” Diana explained.</p>
<p>“Ugh, we’re gonna be just… watching? For the next two days?”</p>
<p>“You’re free to go back at any time,” Diana said.</p>
<p>Amanda didn’t reply, instead just sitting up. Diana sat next to her on the slight slope that left them just out of view from the tower. The silence that followed was uncomfortable at best, but Diana ignored it in pos of watching the tower for movement. On her round she’d peeked through the windows, but she hadn’t seen anything either. Fetching some binoculars from her ribbon, she took a closer look—there was a fire in the chimney, and she sometimes saw a shadow moving, so the man was there. He just didn’t leave his house.</p>
<p>“So…” Amanda said after a while. “You and Akko, eh?” she asked.</p>
<p>Diana turned to her with a glare. “Me and Akko what?”</p>
<p>Amanda gave her a flat look. “Come on, Diana, it’s pretty obvious you like her.”</p>
<p>“I-I do <em>not,</em>” Diana lied.</p>
<p>“Yeah, sure,” Amanda sighed. She stayed quiet for the incredible amount of ten seconds. “You don’t admit it because she’s a girl or…?”</p>
<p>“That has nothing to do with it,” Diana replied. Realizing what she’d said, she tried to correct herself. “Not that I have anything to admit in the first place.”</p>
<p>“Nines, why are you so reluctant? It’s just a crush, we all have them,” Amanda said. “Plus, you should confess. Akko’s never gonna notice you like her if you don’t tell her.”</p>
<p>“I don’t…” She paused, realizing it was useless to deny it any more. “Fine, I may like her. But I can’t confess! Even less when I’m in the middle of this… ordeal.”</p>
<p>“So you’d rather someone else come in and steal her as you spend months, possibly years, chasing after family heirlooms?”</p>
<p>Her words dig deeper than Diana expected. Even at the pace of one heirloom a week—which wasn’t realistic at all—it’d take her over a year to steal them all back. Who knew what could happen in that year? Akko was a wonderful girl. “It’s complicated,” Diana said. “I’m… not used to these things. Relationships. We’ve just become friends. I don’t wanna lose that.”</p>
<p>“Don’t be stupid,” Amanda dismissed her with a chuckle. “Especially with Akko, even if she doesn’t like you back, I’m sure you can still be friends.”</p>
<p>“That’d be awkward,” Diana shook her head. “I’d rather wait. Plus, I think she may like me back… As Shiny Artemis, at least.”</p>
<p>Amanda raised an eyebrow. “Really now? That’s what you’re gonna use? She likes Artemis as an idol, not romantically. And you should really tell her you’re Artemis, too, since we’re at it—it’s kinda sad that she’s the only one at school who hasn’t figured it out.”</p>
<p>“You’re really pushy over this, aren’t you,” Diana said.</p>
<p>The redhead shrugged. “I’m bored, and it’s hard not to notice your crush.”</p>
<p>“What about you? Have you gotten any crushes?” Diana asked back to try and change the topic.</p>
<p>“Of course! None of them lasted long, but they’re there. I’ve had a couple girlfriends too, but it didn’t work out. No-one at Luna Nova’s caught my eye, though,” she explained. “Any crushes besides Akko for you?”</p>
<p>Diana shook her head. “Not in that sense. I used to like Chariot, and I’ve had those kinds of silly crushes one gets while reading a really good book, but nothing truly romantic.”</p>
<p>“What about Andrew?” Amanda asked. Diana’s face of disgust was enough of an answer, apparently. “I take that’s a no.”</p>
<p>“We’re… acquaintances. Please never again imply I may like him,” Diana said, a shiver running through her at the mere idea of ever dating Andrew Hanbridge.</p>
<p>“So only Akko, huh,” Amanda smirked. “Love at first sight?”</p>
<p>Diana shook her head. “I’m… not sure when it happened. I suppose it was probably when she went to bring me back to Luna Nova, but it could have been earlier.”</p>
<p>“Really?” Amanda sounded really interested in this.</p>
<p>“I first noticed Akko was… different, let’s say, during the Pappiliodya event. She… took a spell for one of the eggs,” she explained. “She’s impulsive and reckless. Then she… hopped on her broom during the race last year,” she chuckled. “But I think the moment I truly realized Akko was special was during the Samhain Magic Festival. She ignored our traditions, but in doing so helped Vajarois move on to the afterlife.”</p>
<p>“My, look at that smile,” Amanda smirked. “You’re head over heels for her, huh?”</p>
<p>“It may be the case,” Diana said, wiping the smile from her face. “But it changes nothing. I am a thief, a criminal. I don’t think I should be going out with Akko, especially when it’s highly likely I’ll end up captured. I don’t want to implicate her in any way. Maybe… Maybe that’s why I haven’t even told her that I’m Artemis. Everyone who knows and doesn’t alert the authorities can be considered an accomplice.”</p>
<p>Amanda snorted. “Good luck arresting the entirety of Luna Nova, then,” she said. “Akko will be left alone.”</p>
<p>“That’s beside the point.”</p>
<p>“No it’s not,” Amanda said. “You’re not telling Akko because you’re afraid. Just go ahead.”</p>
<p>“With the confession or the fact that I’m Artemis?”</p>
<p>“Both!”</p>
<p>Diana looked away from her, unable to stand the stare of her emerald eyes. She had a point. Truth was, Diana was just scared that Akko would reject her or lose respect for her if she knew… either one of those things. “I’ll consider it, but… I still don’t think I should.”</p>
<p>Amanda said nothing, but her expression was enough to tell she was still against Diana keeping quiet.</p>
<p>Without anything else to say, they stayed in a silence that lasted for a long time, even if Diana kept thinking about it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Menial conversations were hard to pull off with only the two of them. Diana didn’t enjoy chitchat, and Amanda couldn’t last two sentences without being annoyed at Diana. This lead to short and awkward attempts at talking that always ended in failure, and only made Diana wish she’d come alone.</p>
<p>“We should send the calling card right now and strike tonight,” Amanda said, “that way he won’t have time to set up proper defenses.”</p>
<p>“That’s not how we do it,” Diana said in a monotone. “I’ve already explained it to you.”</p>
<p>“But don’t you want to get your thingies back?”</p>
<p>“My <em>Family Heirlooms,</em>” Diana said with a glare. “And yes, but if someone is good enough to stop me, then I esteem they deserve to have it.”</p>
<p>“That’s… kind of stupid. What if they just hide it somewhere you can’t find it?”</p>
<p>“No treasure is unreachable. It’s why we analyze our targets before sending the calling card.”</p>
<p>“What if they hide it under ten meters of magic-proof concrete?”</p>
<p>“Then I find a drill and get it out… Even if magic-proof concrete isn’t real.”</p>
<p>“You sure are prepared, huh? It’s not anyone who has a giant drill in their pocket,” Amanda mocked. Diana ignored her.</p>
<p>A soft breeze picked up. At this height, and this far north, it made Diana shiver. She fetched her cape inside the ribbon and put it on, and made it wrap around her body. It wasn’t made for winter, but it helped enough with the other layers of clothing she had on. “That’s convenient,” Amanda said. “Where’d you get that?”</p>
<p>“I made it. Enchanting clothes isn’t too hard, but getting them to permanently answer to your thoughts is harder than you may think.”</p>
<p>Amanda nodded slowly. “Could you do that to my cape?”</p>
<p>“With enough time, I could help you prepare the spell and ritual, but you’ll have to be the one to cast it.”</p>
<p>The idea didn’t seem to excite Amanda, but she nodded. “Is it hard?”</p>
<p>“Depends. Do you have the essence of a long deceased ghost at hand?”</p>
<p>Amanda chuckled. “Alright, I get it.” She yawned, looking at the tower. “The sun’s gonna set soon, what are we going to do?”</p>
<p>“Set up camp. I have a tent inside the ribbon, along with more of those rations we had earlier.”</p>
<p>“So when you go out like this… you don’t shower?” Amanda asked.</p>
<p>“That’s what bothers you?”</p>
<p>“Not really, just surprised. I thought you’d be unable to go a day without a shower. Kinda like your teammates, who you may remember, caused that whole ordeal during the fairy strike last year.”</p>
<p>“That wasn’t- Ok, yes, it was partly their fault. In any case, I am perfectly capable of going a day or two without a shower.” It was clear why Amanda would have that perception of her, but Diana couldn’t help being annoyed at the comment anyways. She was a thief now, for the Nines. No need to keep treating her as if she was a prim princess.</p>
<p>“Won’t the guy in the towe- Hey, movement!” Amanda suddenly said. Diana instantly fixed her view on the tower again. Indeed, a shadowy figure had approached the windows of the second floor. Then it went away, and… a second figure approached the window of the first floor? Or maybe the guy had teleported downstairs with the walnut? But that was stupid, who would use a powerful magical object for such a mundane thing as walking down a flight of stairs? Past that, there was no more movement. “And now we just wait… another day,” Amanda sighed.</p>
<p>“We’ll send the calling card when the sun sets,” Diana said.</p>
<p>“How do you plan on delivering it?”</p>
<p>“Send it with magic, obviously,” she stood up. “Before that, though, we should set up camp and a protective barrier to stop anyone outside it from seeing us.”</p>
<p>Amanda nodded. “Alright, wonderful. I’ll set the tent and you do the barrier thing, since I have no idea how to do it.”</p>
<p>Of course she wouldn’t know. It was an advanced spell that was mostly in disuse by the average magic user nowadays anyways. She should teach it to Amanda… or not. Who knew what kind of mischief would she get up to if she learnt to hide a base in plain sight?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Alright, the card was delivered,” Diana said. “It slipped under his door, even, which means he doesn’t have protections on the tower itself either. Strange, but I’m sure he’ll set some up by tomorrow.”</p>
<p>Amanda, who sat by the small fire they’d made to combat the freezing cold, blinked slowly. She was very much tired, but she refused to admit it. It might be hard to believe, but a day of doing essentially nothing could be exhausting. “Great.”</p>
<p>“Were your rations alright?” Diana asked.</p>
<p>“About as tasty as cardboard and with the texture of dirt, but otherwise wonderful,” Amanda sardonically said. “Is it safe to sleep here?”</p>
<p>“As safe as it can be,” Diana pointed at the small tent. It was meant for one person, but the two of them could fit comfortably anyways. “Do you want to turn in for the night?”</p>
<p>Subbornly, Amanda shook her head. “Nah, I’m fine. What about you?”</p>
<p>Diana was used to these stakeouts by now, so they didn’t hit her too hard, but she nodded anyways. “I’ll see you in a while, then,” she said, entering the tent. Luckily, a warmth spell inside the tenth was more than enough for the two of them.</p>
<p>Diana changed into winter pajamas with a spell and patiently slipped into her sleeping bag. Unsurprisingly, Amanda stepped into the tent five minutes later. Diana pretended to be asleep, because she figured otherwise the redhead would be too stubborn to admit she was tired and might go out into the night again.</p>
<p>After some fumbling around, Amanda finally got into her sleeping back and sighed. She rolled and turned in place, looking for comfort. Eventually, her breathing became soft and rhythmic, and Diana was fairly certain she was asleep.</p>
<p>When that was done, she slipped outside. Amanda was none the wiser.</p>
<p>The night was dark. And beautiful.</p>
<p>The moon was thin like a nail in the sky, barely starting a new cycle, and the stars… were infinite. It was incredible, how many stars one could see out here. Even at Luna Nova where stars were already plenty beautiful, some of the light pollution from nearby civilization dampened the sky.</p>
<p>Here, and up this high, the immensity of it all truly got to Diana.</p>
<p>“Beautiful, isn’t it?” A calm voice asked her.</p>
<p>Diana blinked, turning around. Next to her had appeared an old man on a chair. Diana nearly jumped and screamed, but he had such a… kind demeanor. “Errol Fionnlagh?” she asked, unable to think of who else it could be.</p>
<p>The man nodded. He was bald, and so wrinkly that his wrinkles seemed to connect and divide creating paths akin to rivers. “And I take it you’re Shiny Artemis, the Witch Thief,” he said. “Can’t say I’m surprised it’s you, Diana Cavendish.”</p>
<p>“H-how…?”</p>
<p>He smiled. “Your spell was a fine one,” he said, pointing around them, “but my barriers surround the entire mountain, so I could sense you anyways.”</p>
<p><em>The entire…</em> Diana’s jaw dropped. It wasn’t that he didn’t have protections, it was that his protections had been so big Diana hadn’t seen them… “You…” she slowly sat down where she was, near him. “You’re a really powerful wizard, mister Fionnlagh.”</p>
<p>“Just Errol, please,” he said, his smile unrelenting. “I figured you’d try to come for the Golden Chestnut eventually. Can’t say I expected you to come so soon, though. Daring, aren’t we?” he winked.</p>
<p>“You don’t appear too bothered by my presence.”</p>
<p>He chuckled. “When you reach a certain age, you learn to appreciate things like these. Changes to the routine can spice up your life.”</p>
<p>Still processing what he’d said earlier, Diana sighed. “We have no chance, do we? To steal the chestnut form you.”</p>
<p>He shook his head. “No. But…” he extended his hand, and in it, a small chestnut rested, reflecting the dancing fire on a golden coating. “You can have it anyways.”</p>
<p>Diana looked at it with suspicion. “Excuse me? After you refused so… vehemently on your reply?”</p>
<p>The cock of his head insinuated he had no idea what she was talking about. “Huh. I guess she didn’t appreciate it…”</p>
<p>“She? I thought you…”</p>
<p>“Lived alone? I do, I do,” he pointed to his side. “Doesn’t mean I <em>am</em> alone, if you get what I mean.”</p>
<p>Confusion overtook Diana for a moment, until she paid closer attention to the spot he was pointing at. There, a hint of a shape, a wave of the air, fainter than even a magical barrier, suggested… a person. “A ghost,” she realized, eyes widening. “You live with a ghost?”</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t say ‘live’ is an accurate descriptor, but something like that,” he patted the air where the ghost was. “She’s the original owner of the tower. Died in a terrible accident three hundred years ago, hasn’t been able to move on.”</p>
<p>“I would appreciate it,” an eerie and beautiful voice said, and as it spoke, the body of a woman seemed to materialize, if only… colorless, “if you didn’t share the details of my death with a stranger.”</p>
<p>“G-Greetings,” Diana nodded respectfully.</p>
<p>“Ah, don’t be like that,” Errol chastised. “She’s the witch of the generation, you know! Maybe she’ll be the one to figure out how to send you along.”</p>
<p>“A petty thief? Huh,” as the features of the woman became more distinct, Diana realized she was being glared at. This woman had been beautiful in life, and her ghost reflected that. Long, flowing hair, a beautiful gown, and a traditional witch’s hat that fit her perfectly. “I severely doubt it.”</p>
<p>Diana frowned. “I understand disliking my ways, but please refrain from calling me petty.”</p>
<p>“I’ll call petty anyone who’d dare steal from an invalid old man,” she retorted.</p>
<p>“Excuse me? Invalid? What does that…” Diana started, but then she took a second look at the chair the man was sitting on.</p>
<p>It had wheels. Small, wooden wheels. Her heart seemed to drop to her stomach, and her body froze. “Oh. Oh no,” she said, putting a hand over her face to hide her shame. “None of my documents… There was no information…”</p>
<p>“It’s alright,” he said, rolling his eyes at the ghost. “Kenzy here is miserable so she likes to make others feel miserable.”</p>
<p>“I do <em>not,</em>” Kenzy defended herself.</p>
<p>“You…” Diana said. “You use the chestnut to move around.”</p>
<p>“Yes. It’s hard to get on a broom and using other flying objects can get tiring. When I have to go to town, I can just teleport there,” Errol explained with a shrug. “But it’s not like I can’t teleport there with my own skills, so that’s alright. Take it,” he offered the chestnut again.</p>
<p><em>We came all this way, </em>Diana said, looking at the magical item. <em>I should grab it and get out.</em></p>
<p>But Errol’s kind eyes, and the judging stare of the ghost… Diana knew. She knew this was another line she wouldn’t cross. “I’m… Not gonna do this,” she reached for the old man’s hand, but only to close it around the chestnut. “I’m sorry for ever trying to take it from you, mister Fio- Errol,” Diana said. “You can keep it.”</p>
<p>“Well, at least she’s got some common sense,” Kenzy said, nodding.</p>
<p>“Can it,” Errol waved a dismissive hand. “Are you sure, heir of Cavendish? If you reject my offer now, you will not be getting this back until I die—and I can tell you, I don’t plan on moving on anytime soon.”</p>
<p>The decision was easy. As easy as looking up at the sky and sighing from how beautiful it was. “I think you need it more than I do.” She explained.</p>
<p>He laughed. “You’re not really cut out to be a thief, are you?”</p>
<p>Diana wasn’t sure what to answer, so she tried to be honest. “I’m not sure. But… I still have to try.”</p>
<p>“If you’re gonna let any kind of man deter you from it, you may not get very far,” he chuckled.</p>
<p>“Well I think that’s better than just being a common thief. She’s got standards,” Kenzy nodded approvingly. “Girl, you’re a descendant of Bonnie, are you not?”</p>
<p>“B-bonnie?” Diana didn’t recognize the name. Kenzy paused, looking at nothing for a moment. “What was the name…” she struggled to remember. “Ugh, whatever. You’re a Cavendish, you have to be. Come back to this tower when this useless man dies. I’ll make sure to keep the chestnut safe.”</p>
<p>“Assuming I don’t manage to send you along first,” Errol chimed in.</p>
<p>“I’m… not sure what to think of this,” Diana confessed. The ghost waved a ghostly hand over the fire, making it sputter out like if a bucket of water had been thrown on top of it.</p>
<p>“Better that way. I want you two gone by tomorrow noon, if not I’ll tell my colleagues near Luna Nova to haunt your dreams.”</p>
<p>Errol leaned closer. “She always says that, but never goes through with it,” he whispered.</p>
<p>Diana wasn’t willing to see if she’d do it this time, though. “I’ll… make sure that’s the case.”</p>
<p>“Wonderful,” Kenzy started to fade.</p>
<p>When she was gone, Errol sighed. “Excuse her. She gets cranky at times close to new moons. She died on a night like this one,” he explained.</p>
<p>“Errol!” Kenzy, who was obviously still there, chastised him.</p>
<p>“Sorry, sorry. Alright, Diana Cavendish, pleasure to meet you. Excuse my friend’s… aggressive language. I’ll make sure to write my own reply next time,” he winked, extending a hand.</p>
<p>Diana shook it. A few moments later, the man popped out of existence, probably back to his tower.</p>
<p>The blonde was left outside, mind blank as she stared at the night sky. That was, at least, until she realized how cold it was and ran back inside the tent to get some sleep before they had to leave tomorrow.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Fun fact: Originally, the man was going to be a grumpy old man aided by a kindly ghost who would beg Diana to let him have the walnut.<br/>Luckily for me, at almost the last second I kinda swapped their personalities, which I think made for a far more interesting and funny scene. <br/>Also, did you notice the new tag?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I can’t believe it,” Hannah said. They walked around school during Sunday noon. Amanda and Diana had arrived a couple of hours earlier, showered and met up here.</p><p>“I didn’t either,” Amanda nodded in understanding, “but then I saw the ectoplasm over the fireplace!” Hannah and Barbara cringed at the idea. “It came in handy, too: Just what I needed to make a magical cape like Diana’s,” she explained and showed them a small vial of the stuff.</p><p>Diana, who had told her teammates the tale of what had happened, stared forward, still thinking of the events. Errol had a point: If all it took to deter Diana from her goals was a kindly old man, was this path one she could follow to the end?</p><p>“Is that ash?” Barbara frowned, looking the vial closer.</p><p>“Maybe, it <em>was</em> over a fireplace.”</p><p>“Can’t that mess up the spell?”</p><p>The two of them turned to Diana, who didn’t notice them until a while had passed. “Uhm, it’ll be fine,” she said with an absent tone, unsure of what she was answering to. They seemed satisfied with the answer. “But enough, we shouldn’t be talking about this.”</p><p>“Right. We should be talking about our next target,” Amanda said.</p><p>“I meant about <em>our business</em> in general. We’re outside. We don’t know who may be listening.”</p><p>“Ugh, you worry too much,” Amanda sighed.</p><p>“And it’s not like we can pick a target. My lists and information are all back in my room.”</p><p>“Right… why don’t you set up in Constanze’s workshop?” Amanda suggested. “She probably won’t mind, and that’s the most secret place in Luna Nova.”</p><p>Diana opened her mouth to decline, but she paused. That <em>did</em> sound like a good idea, actually. “I’ll consider it,” she said instead. There were many factors to keep in mind, but on a first impression, Diana was tempted to say yes.</p><p>The day was beautiful; neither too hot nor too cold, even if days were growing colder. The sun shined, the occasional cloud drifted by, and the barest of breezes made a cacophony of creaking leaves as treetops discarded their dying ones. The kind of days where colors popped and every sense seemed to be enhanced. Diana liked using days like these to study outside, change her environment and get some much needed sun.</p><p>Today, though, she tried to deal with her dilemma.</p><p>“We’re coming with on the next heist, right?” Hannah asked, pulling Diana from her thoughts.</p><p>“I’ll… see,” she said.</p><p>“Constanze is already designing our outfits and everything!” Barbara said with some excitement.</p><p>Diana didn’t like how excited they seemed to form part of her criminal behavior.</p><p>“And I didn’t even get a chance to premiere mine,” Amanda lamented, staring at Diana as if it was her fault.</p><p>“Excuse me for having the good conscience of not stealing from an invalid old man his way of easy transportation,” Diana said with a flat look.</p><p>“We could have, stolen it and then given it back or something! There’s phantom thieves that do that, right?”</p><p>“I’m not sure, and even if there were, there’d certainly be a logical reason behind it,” Diana said. “We’re not going to do it simply because you want to have fun.”</p><p>“I mean, it could also be training and…” the redhead trailed off, frowning and looking at something in the distance. When Diana looked that way, she noticed a small crowd surrounding something at the center. As they drew closer, the hustle of the two dozen or so students reached their ears. And at the center was now visible a figure with a white hat and a big ribbon on it.</p><p>A few moments later, the figure was lifted to the air. Akko.</p><p>She was trying to keep her balance while broom-surfing.</p><p>“She’s an idiot,” Hannah said.</p><p>“She barely knows how to fly, she’s gonna break her neck,” Barbara added.</p><p>Amanda and Diana both had begun walking faster. “This is your fault,” Diana said to the redhead.</p><p>“Excuse me?” Amanda asked, baffled.</p><p>“It’s you who always goes around doing crazy stuff with her broom,” Diana explained.</p><p>“Me? She’s literally trying to copy <em>you!</em>” Amanda retorted. Of course, she was right, but Diana didn’t want to admit it. “Ugh, whatever. Akko, the heck are you doing?!” she shouted.</p><p>“No, what are you…!” Diana exclaimed, but it was too late. Akko turned her head.</p><p>And lost balance.</p><p>She slipped and fell for the long distance of… about a meter. Still, Diana panicked, running forward. She didn’t need to push the crowd aside, as they made room for her as she walked.  Akko, luckily, appeared to be ok, sitting up from her fall with a disappointed expression. “Akko, are you alright?” Diana asked, kneeling next to her.</p><p>“Uh?” Akko looked at her with surprise. “Ah, Diana, hello. Yeah, I’ve had far worse falls,” she smiled, scratching the back of her head.</p><p>Still, Diana brought out her wand, starting a spell to make sure Akko wasn’t feeling pain anywhere. A moment later, Amanda arrived. “Akko, you’re a moron. You can barely lift yourself off the ground, what were you trying?”</p><p>“Well, both Chariot and Artemis can surf on their brooms. I figured I should try it too!” She said.</p><p>Amanda groaned. Diana finished her spell. Other than soreness on her buttocks, Akko had injuries. “That was reckless and stupid,” Diana said, regaining her composure and standing up. “Please refrain from attempting dangerous maneuvers until you’re… far more experienced.” She then turned to the crowd. “And what about you? Did it not occur to you that maybe this was an idea that could have gone horribly wrong? What if Akko had been higher when she fell? What if she’d fallen badly and broken a limb or worse?”</p><p>The students who had been watching Akko’s little experiment, looked away from her, ashamed.</p><p>“Man, you have the glare and voice of an angry mother. You really know how to scold people,” Amanda chuckled.</p><p>Diana turned her glare to her. “This is no laughing matter.”</p><p>Akko, sensing the tension, stood. “Diana, hey, it’s alright! I’m ok, no harm done. All’s well that ends well, right?”</p><p>She had her usual laid back smile, and a few grass blades stuck to her hair and clothes. She was beautiful. Maybe because of her chat with Amanda, Diana suddenly felt self conscious of the effect Akko had on her. And she didn’t like it. She paused, realizing how emotional she’d become. And her identity problem wasn’t helping. “No, no it’s not ‘all well’. What are you doing, Akko? Chariot I understand: She was a performer, someone who sought admiration. But Artemis? She’s a thief!” Diana made the hat Akko had been wearing, now on the ground, levitate. “What is this? Why are you idolizing a <em>criminal?</em>”</p><p>Amanda, behind Akko, frowned. “Diana, leave her-”</p><p>“You could have seriously harmed yourself by doing this!” Diana ignored the redhead. “Seriously, just what were you thinking? You want to be like Chariot and Artemis? Well, begin by graduating from school and learning magic properly!”</p><p>The crowd around them had begun to back away slowly, and now both Amanda and Akko frowned. “I was just trying to have some fun,” Akko said, defensive.</p><p>“Ah, of course! Alright then, no problem, just keep on trying a highly advanced flying technique, I’m sure someone will catch you when you inevitably fall. Otherwise, I can already picture it: “Atsuko Kagari, savior of magic: Died of chronic <em>stupidity.</em>”</p><p>Akko’s frown slowly shifted into a far subtler but also harsher expression. One of hurt. “Well if I’m so stupid, maybe you shouldn’t be teaching me!” she exclaimed, crossing her arms.</p><p>“Maybe you’re right!” Diana exclaimed back.</p><p>“Fine!” Akko turned, running away and bumping into Amanda on the way.</p><p>Amanda looked at her go. She then turned to Diana with an angry expression. “What the hell was that?”</p><p>“That’s what I want to ask,” Hannah asked. She and Barbara had arrived at some point, but Diana hadn’t noticed them.</p><p>Diana shook her head, her anger disappearing after a single moment of thinking. She took the had she’d been levitating and stared at it. “I… don’t know,” she admitted.</p><p>“You should go apologize,” Amanda said.</p><p><em>Or not.</em> “It’s better this way,” Diana decided. “She won’t realize who I am. Maybe I’ve also helped see that admiring Artemis isn’t good.”</p><p>“Girl,” Amanda’s expression was just confused. “This is <em>exactly the opposite</em> of what I said you should do.”</p><p>“Which only proves you were wrong,” Diana said.</p><p>Hannah and Barbara walked to stand next to Amanda. “Not sure what she said,” Hannah said, “but I’m inclined to believe she is the one in the right here.”</p><p>“And you <em>should</em> apologize,” Barbara added. “Akko is your friend.”</p><p>“She was just having fun, there was no need to snap at her like that,” Amanda continued.</p><p>Diana turned away from their judging looks. Instead of replying, she pointed at the broom on the ground. “One of you should return that to Atsuko.”</p><p>And before they could reply, she walked away, still holding the replica of Shiny Artemis’s hat.</p><p> </p><p>When study hours came around, Diana didn’t expect Akko to come around. So it was that the knocking on the door surprised her. And more surprised she was when, upon opening, the brunette was on the other side. “Hi,” Akko said.</p><p>“Akko, uhm… Come on in,” Diana stepped aside. “I wasn’t expecting you.”</p><p>Akko smiled and shrugged. “I get why you were angry,” Akko said. “I think we both said things we didn’t mean to… And running away isn’t any way to fix the problem! We’re friends, we can talk things out!” Her usual energy was there, and a huge weight lifted off Diana’s shoulders at seeing Akko wasn’t angry.</p><p>But that weight should stay there. For the wellbeing of them both. “Akko, listen,” Diana said. “I…”</p><p>“Sht, no need to say it. We’re both sorry, right? That’s it. Let bygones be bygones,” Akko made a dismissive gesture with her hand.</p><p>Diana paused. How could she reply to that? Akko made it sound so easy, as if Diana hadn’t been stressing over this for the entire afternoon.  But it was also so… <em>her.</em> “You aren’t mad, truly? What about what I said of the thief?”</p><p>Akko snorted. “Please, you’re <em>you.</em> Of course you dislike Shiny Artemis. I’m surprised you haven’t asked authorities to let them help you catch her,” she said, chuckling.</p><p>The laugh helped Diana forget her worries. For a moment, at least. “If professionals can’t catch her, I don’t think I’ve got much of a chance either,” Diana explained, feeling the last of her tension slide off. “But…”</p><p>“I know, I know. We should study, not talk about the thief,” Akko said. Her red eyes looked at Diana’s desk. A sudden realization came over Diana. Her body went cold. “Wait, is that…”</p><p>Diana left her ribbon on top of the desk.</p><p>“I-it’s not what it…”</p><p>“Where did you get this?!” Akko ran towards the desk, picking the ribbon up. “It feels so good! What is it made of?!” she said. “Diana, do you like Shiny Artemis?”</p><p>Diana took a few seconds to process what was happening. <em>She thinks it’s fake. Merchandizing. </em>She needed to play it off. “No, of course not. That was, uhm… A gift.”</p><p>“A gift?” Akko’s eyes narrowed. “For me?” Why did she look so suspicious?</p><p>“N-no, of course not. It was for… B-Barbara. She likes those kinds of things, like her Nightfall novels and all of that,” Diana felt her brain racing for the excuse. “I was, uhm… making the finishing touches before you arrived.”</p><p>The brunette looked disappointed at this. “Oh. It feels so real!” She said, examining the ribbon again. Diana prayed to all Nine Olde Witches that she didn’t find the dimensional pocket. “Not that I know what the real one feels like, but it feels just what I imagined it to feel like, if that makes sense.”</p><p>“Ha,” was all Diana could reply. “Guess I made the right choice for material. Now, please, put it down, I don’t want the… seams to come undone before its finished.”</p><p>“Oh, right,” Akko put it down, apparently ignoring that the ribbon had no visible seams at all. “Sorry. I just didn’t think that you, well…”</p><p>“Would gift something like that to a friend? If they enjoy it, then that’s all it matters! It’s just a harmless gift, after all. Ha ha,” Diana said, quietly wishing the earth would swallow her.</p><p>“Well, I’m… Surprised,” Akko said. “But hey, it’s cool that you support your friends despite not agreeing with them!”</p><p><em>I keep digging deeper and deeper. I’ll eventually come out the other side of the planet. Maybe I can make a new life on Campbell Island, </em>Diana thought. “Thanks. Ha ha,” she had never felt so… awkward before. “Now, why don’t we study some more. What else do you need help with?”</p><p>Akko walked away from the ribbon, and Diana felt relief wash over her. She’d need to make an actual replica to give to Barbara later. Hopefully she’d understand.</p><p> </p><p>“I think I’ve found a suitable new target,” Diana said a few afternoons after her fight with Akko. “One of the first heirlooms my aunt sold.”</p><p>“Oh, interesting,” Amanda leaned over her shoulder to peek at the list. They were in Constanze’s workshop. The mechanic had agreed to let them use it as a base of operations, and Diana still had to decide whether she wanted to make it so or not—but she suspected it would come in handy. “Who do we steal it from?”</p><p>“Not any one person. Do you know of the Olde Nine Treasury?”</p><p>“Uhm… isn’t that the oldest museums in London?” Barbara asked.</p><p>“Not just London: The entirety of the country, and possibly the world.”</p><p>“We’re stealing from a museum?” Amanda’s smile was almost blinding.</p><p>Diana sighed. “I wish you wouldn’t be so fast to sound excited at the idea of robbery. But yes, the Olde Nine Treasury is a small but relatively concurred museum in possession of many magical items somehow tied to the Nine Olde Witches—some belonging to the witches themselves, or in some cases their descendants.”</p><p>“Ah, I see where this is going,” Amanda nodded.</p><p>Diana put down the list. “The Rod of Asclepius,” she pointed at the list. “Daryl sold it roughly ten years ago. It’s a staff that’s been said to belong to Beatrix herself, though there’s contradictory records. It was said to be able to tenfold all healing magic. It may also be the reason the Cavendish traditionally use wands that look like small versions of it. It had lost its power due to the lack of magic in the world—even Philosopher’s Stones were apparently unable to recharge it. Recently, though, it was taken out of display.”</p><p>“Do you think they’re using it?” Hannah asked.</p><p>Diana shook her head. “I asked my aunt to dig deeper into it. The staff begun manifesting powers, now the current owner of the Treasury—Sean Douglas—wishes to sell it.”</p><p>The other girls in the room frowned. Even Constanze paused her work to look back with clear disgust at the idea.</p><p>“With it working, its real worth is… unfathomable. Healing magic the likes of which hasn’t been seen in millennia will be possible—and he knows it,” Diana said.</p><p>“And if it falls on the hands of someone looking to make a profit…” Barbara said.</p><p>“Yes. That’s why we’re stealing it before it can be auctioned,” Diana said. “Us Cavendish have never accepted money for their medical care. I won’t let such an important heirloom be desecrated like this.” She took out another sheet with information. “The auction is set to happen in two weeks. The Olde Nine Treasury is heavily guarded and will certainly be the hardest heist I’ve attempted so far,” she looked up at the other three girls, “which does mean I may be able to accept your help without feeling overly guilty.”</p><p>“Neat,” Amanda nodded.</p><p>“Wouldn’t it be better to try to buy the rod?” Barbara suggested.</p><p>“The starting price is two million pounds, and Daryl esteems it could go up to ten or even fifteen—and it may go for even more, now that magical items are gaining their worth back,” Diana explained. “Several multimillionaire people will attend the auction. My family has been growing again, thankfully, but we’re just not in the same league. What’s worse is, the Rod of Asclepius was sold to the museum at just ten thousand pounds, as Daryl thought of it as no better than driftwood.”</p><p>Hannah gasped, Amanda narrowed her eyes and Barbara covered her mouth. “That… That should be illegal!” Barbara exclaimed.</p><p>“It’s not. There are some laws to protect historical items, but they don’t cover those such as these, much to my dismay. I would have been content with leaving the Rod at the museum, if only this hadn’t happened… But no time to lament these events,” Diana stood. “You three will need to free up your next week. We’ll need to properly explore the museum if we want to pull this heist off. There are no exams coming up, so it should be simple.”</p><p>“Won’t it be suspicious if we four disappear for a week, then Shiny Artemis’s crew grows to four next time she shows up?” Hannah asked.</p><p>Diana smiled. “I think I know how to deal with that.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This is gonna be the last chapter for a few days—I've got a li'l something else to work on and then I'll jump right back into this! Anyways, hope you enjoy.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Akko looked like a sad puppy when you told her we were leaving, eh?” Amanda nudged her playfully. Diaan decided not to say anything. They were currently flying through the leyline.</p><p>“Did you all bring your costumes?” She asked, ignoring the redhead.</p><p>“Diana, we understand you’re nervous,” Hannah said, “but you’ve asked a dozen times. Yes.”</p><p>She was right, but she needed to make sure. There’d be no point in asking Chariot to help them with the cover otherwise. Now the three of them would sometimes be around Luna Nova when the teachers didn’t have anything better to do—or in other words, the teachers would transform into them occasionally to help. Not Diana, though. She was already known to make trips occasionally and she was under suspicion anyways. This way there wouldn’t be <em>more</em> students under scrutiny. Which was why they needed the disguises: Better they not be seen outside Luna Nova in any way.</p><p>“And what about you?”</p><p>“I’m not going into the museum. In fact, as far as everyone is concerned, I’ve left, as usual, to handle Cavendish family affairs,” Diana explained. “You three will do reconnaissance for me.”</p><p>“W-we?” Barbara said. “But we’ve never done it before!”</p><p>“That’s alright. I’ll guide you,” she said.</p><p>“How?” Amanda raised a curious eyebrow.</p><p>“You’ll see.”</p><p> </p><p>“Neato,” Amanda said, looking at the earplug headphone. She was now disguised as a gentleman with a suit, top-hat and a monocle. She looked surprisingly well in that getup, though Diana supposed she shouldn’t be too surprised, since she’d managed to pass for a man when she’d slipped into Appleton Academy the previous year. She’d even fooled Hannah at one point, though that was a story the auburn-haired girl preferred not to talk about.</p><p>“I feel like an adult,” she said. She was wearing a woman’s suit, with a relatively short skirt and high heels. She looked at herself on the mirror of the small room—that they had rented under false identities—to admire herself.</p><p>“I feel like an idiot,” Barbara said instead. She had disguised herself as a clown: Big rainbow wig, white face, yellow and red outfit, even a big red nose.</p><p>“I’m… not sure of why you did that,” Diana admitted.</p><p>“We needed to look different!” she explained, extending her hands. Where had she gotten that balloon?</p><p>“You’re a bit of a goofball deep inside, huh?” Amanda chuckled.</p><p>Hannah finished her disguise by putting on some glasses. “There.”</p><p>Diana looked at the trio and nodded. “That should be enough,” she said.</p><p>“You should have said we needed normal disguises,” Barbara sighed. “Can’t I use magic to disguise myself as something else, like when we got in?”</p><p>“No,” Diana said. “Physical disguises are needed for this. We’re not sure what defenses the museum has normally, I don’t want to risk illusions being broken.</p><p>Amanda subtly reached forward and squeezed her red nose. It honked. She was barely able to contain her laughter. And Hannah next to her too had to look away to hide her expression.</p><p>“I think I’m just going to stay back here and read a book,” she said, glaring at the other two.</p><p>“Don’t worry, Barbara. The crazy getup will help, too. Three young-looking people in fancy suits may have been suspicious, but… Well, two and a clown? It may be unusual, but I feel like the fact that you look like a clown will distract anyone from looking too closely at those two,” she explained, putting a hand on Barbara’s shoulder.</p><p>“If you say so...” Barbara didn’t look convinced.</p><p>“Now, go. You should be able to see the entirety of the museum in about an hour without a tour. Take different routes as you move inside, and every one of you should visit the same rooms—see if you can spot things that the others didn’t. We’ll talk more once you’re there, and by that I mean I will be talking and you won’t say a word to anyone unless they ask something of you because then you’d really be suspicious.”</p><p>“Yeah, the clown isn’t suspicious at all,” Amanda said, a small smile still present on her face.</p><p>“Let’s go, before I regret every life decision that has led to this moment,” Barbara said, turning and exiting the room before the other two could make any more fun of her. Hannah followed her with only a bit of guilt, while Amanda finally allowed herself some low-volume laughs now that Barbara wasn’t watching.</p><p>A few moments later, they were out.</p><p>“One, two, testing,” Diana said, taking out the small walkie-talkie Constanze had given her.</p><p><em>“We hear you,”</em> Amanda said, her voice booming in Diana’s ear.</p><p>“Perfect,” Diana said. “Don’t reply to me again, now.”</p><p>
  <em>“Alri-”</em>
</p><p>“Do <em>not</em> reply to me,” Diana insisted. This time, she was satisfied to receive no answer.</p><p>The girls would take maybe five minutes to reach the museum, which was two streets away. Diana looked around their small room—two beds, two nightstands, a desk, a TV hung on the wall, a small closet and a door to the criminally small bathroom. Despite its size, it was nice looking, with white walls, beige bed sheets and curtains, and warm lights that gave it a cozy feel.</p><p>Of course, they wouldn’t all be sleeping here. Amanda and Diana had entered while invisible, and a couple of people would come later today to get the room right next to this one, which they’d conveniently reserved in advance about half an hour after this one. A group of four conveniently staying in the same room for a week right before the heist would be too obvious. During this week, Diana and Amanda would go and come a couple of times, pretending to be different people each time, while Hannah and Barbara would stay the same. That way, there wouldn’t be a relation between the four of them to an outside observer.</p><p>Through the earplug on her ear, Diana could hear the bustle of conversation. She’d considered putting a hidden camera on one of the girls, but she figured the pictures they’d take with their phones would be enough. Besides, she’d already set Daryl to the task of finding the blueprints to the museum. That woman had impressive amounts of information available to her just based on the fact that she was the current head of the family. And if she didn’t find said blueprints, well… Diana would have to improvise. Not that her heists so far hadn’t involved some of that.</p><p><em>“Alright, here we are,” </em>Amanda said in a perfect British accent. <em>“Isn’t it exciting to finally be here, dear?”</em></p><p><em>“Who are you calling dear?”</em> Hannah said with disgust. <em>“We should be pretending we don’t know each other, moron.”</em></p><p><em>“Stop fighting,”</em> Barbara said in a lower voice. <em>“It’s about to open, shut up and climb the stairs.”</em></p><p>There was a moment of silence in which Diana assumed they’d be climbing the short set of stairs up to the museum. <em>“Where do you think she got that balloon? I didn’t see her inflating it,”</em> Amanda asked. <em>“Kinda reminds me of Jasminka and how she always has more food hidden somewhere.”</em></p><p><em>“Would you stop speaking to me?”</em> Hannah asked.</p><p>Diana could almost feel the way Amanda would likely be rolling her eyes right now.</p><p><em>“An entrance, please!”</em> Barbara said in a goofy voice, and Diana knew they were in. A few moments later, Amanda and Hannah had already asked for their entrances.</p><p>Time to guide them. “There are five main rooms in the museum,” Diana explained. “Three of them are dedicated to three of the Nine Olde Witches each, one of them is strictly related to items of their time that many assume belonged to them but there’s no hard proof of it, and the remaining one is about items of their descendants. Take photos of every room, but make it subtle; make it as if you were photographing the displays.</p><p>“Check for ventilations and anything useful, check for where the cameras are and how they move, but don’t bother too much because security will be increased once we send our calling card. There should also be a couple more rooms, for staff and such, but you won’t be allowed into any of them and I don’t want you even attempting to get into them—that goes for you, Amanda. Oh, but do look into the bathrooms, they can be useful too.</p><p>“Last but not least, check security. Their equipment, if they’re magical users or not. Try to find an excuse to use magic somehow and see if there’s alarms related to it, or if any guards tell you to cut it out. Put a hand on a display or two, pretend to be interested. Was everything understood?”</p><p>The three of them made little noises that meant affirmative.</p><p>Diana put the walkie-talkie down. If they needed more help, they’d call her from a bathroom stall. Diana wondered if there were many other guests in the museum—she figured a fair amount, since she could hear some bustle through the earplug.</p><p>Waiting was boring, but nothing Diana wasn’t used to. She hated to admit it, but having those three help her was relieving. The biggest problem was the crippling doubt that assaulted her every time she considered the chance they might get caught.</p><p>She stood from the desk, walking over to the window. They were on a second floor, and Diana’s window showed the inner patio of the building, so she couldn’t see anything but walls and a gray sky.</p><p>While never fully distracted from what might be happening in the museum, she allowed some of her thoughts to drift. To her friends, to her teachers, to her family. There were many people helping her with this endeavor. And for what? No-one would gain anything from it. The Cavendish would keep the heirlooms but wouldn’t be allowed to show them to others ever again. The Luna Nova staff helped hide a criminal in such a way that could get the entire school shut down. And her friends, who could end up in prison. At least Constanze got Diana’s payments, but the others received nothing. Amanda, maybe, got to quench her thirst for excitement. Hannah and Barbara, though, only did it due to friendship and quite possibly admiration.</p><p>On top of that, Diana was making things harder for everyone without it needing to be that way. She could be using the Staff of Geomancy. With that, they could enter the museum from below and take the Rod of Asclepius without a problem. In fact, Diana would likely be able to do it alone that way. And Sean Douglas was scum. He deserved little to no respect—what he wanted to do was insulting. Jules Brown had at least used the Staff of Geomancy to get rich in a way that didn’t cause harm to others. Putting the abilities of the Rod on the hands of those who would only seek to profit from it, though? Every time she thought about it, Diana had to hold back the need to teleport right into his office just to slap him.</p><p>But what about Diana? She wanted to hide it from the world, never to be seen again. She could of course still use it, but only privately. How was that any better? Wouldn’t it be better to have the Heirloom be used, even if at a cost?</p><p>Errol had been right. Diana wasn’t really cut out for this. She kept second guessing herself, she kept wondering if what she was doing was right. How could she go on with this if the high of the heist only lasted for a little while? Sure, it was exciting and thrilling, and the satisfaction of a job well done could be addictive, but the time in between heists was so full of… nothing.</p><p>As she often did, Diana wondered if her mother would’ve been ok with this. Diana found that unlikely. Bernadette Cavendish, as far as her memories went, had been a woman of kindness and pride. Every story she’d heard of her spoke to her talent as a witch and as a head of the family, and to how saddened everyone had been to see her pass away at such a young age.</p><p>It was likely one of the reasons Diana was… well, <em>Diana</em> had to do with that. Not only living up to the expectations of a Cavendish, but to the memory of her mother. How often had Diana wanted to bring her mother back somehow? Summon her spirit, reanimate her body? Spells to do such a thing were possible. Akko had done it, for Nines’ sake. It was a taboo, a <em>big</em> taboo, but… Was it wrong? To want to see her mother again?</p><p>Yes. Akko had been lucky. Disturbing the dead could cause a lot of trouble. Diana hoped her mother had passed on peacefully, but it was also possible she hadn’t. What if she summoned her and it turned out she had turned into a vengeful spirit? It wasn’t worth the risk.</p><p>Diana looked at her Luna Nova wand. They still used the designs with magical batteries, even if they weren’t needed anymore. Once she graduated from Luna Nova, she’d get her own Cavendish traditional wand—carved from the wood of the Beatrix tree. She wondered if she deserved to have it.</p><p>Some noise from the walkie-talkie distracted her, but it was just a passing conversation. They had been at it for a while now. Diana had been to the museum before, a few years ago, which was why she knew plenty about it already. Sadly, her past-self hadn’t had the foresight to take the pictures she’d need for this heist. Maybe Diana should look more into divination magic. She was pretty good at it already, though Akko had proved no reading was truly destined to come true.</p><p>As time passed, Diana unraveled the jumble of thoughts she had in her head and tried to sort them out. She put her uncertainty aside. In the right or not, she couldn’t stop. Not now. She had to believe she was doing the right thing. She had already proved she knew where to draw the line, and she’d trust that she’d know if she had to draw another one. The guilt of dragging others into this was dampened by knowing they were all willingly doing it.</p><p>And most of all, she couldn’t be in this state of mind if she wanted to have any chance to successfully complete this theft.</p><p> </p><p>Diana spent hours examining every photo. Daryl had said the blueprints would have to wait a little longer, as she wanted to make sure there was no possible way to trace her movements. In the meantime, Diana had gotten the useful information that there were apparently no magical defenses on the museum, which meant that tomorrow she could go in and check everything herself. Maybe she could access the rooms the others hadn’t been to, and the four of them together would be able to pull the heist up.</p><p>She was now in her and Amanda’s room—a perfect mirror of the other one—and it was probably past midnight. All doubt had been eradicated from her mind once she started focusing on work.</p><p>When she finally took a break, she took a phone and asked for room service: She wanted a coffee. Despite her care to speak softly and to only keep the desk’s light on, Amanda stirred and when Diana hung the phone, she had one eye half open and looking at her. “Still awake?” she said in a tired voice “What time is it?”</p><p>She checked the clock hanged on the wall. “Nearly one AM. Is there something you need?”</p><p>The redhead shook her head, but she didn’t go back to sleep. Instead, she shifted from her sideways posture to lay on her back. “We still have six days. Do you really need to stress so much now? You haven’t even been to the museum yet.”</p><p>“Yes. I need to be certain. More certain than ever. We’re raiding a museum in the middle of a metropolis. No room for mistakes.”</p><p>Amanda sighed, as if she expected something like that. Then, she took her wand and aimed at the lam on the desk—blowing it up. “There,” she said. “Now shut up and go to sleep.”</p><p>Diana’s jaw had dropped. “Are you insane?” She asked. “I can’t believe you’d-”</p><p>“Diana,” Amanda interrupted, “I can fix it tomorrow. You’re not very good those kinds of things, right? Well I was taught by Constanze. Now lay down,” she ordered.</p><p>Outraged, but without any counter arguments, Diana had no choice but to admit defeat. She called room service again to cancel that coffee and did as told, preparing to go to bed. She figured Amanda was doing it for good reasons, but it didn’t stop Diana from feeling extremely offended.</p><p>Once she was tucked in bed, Amanda smirked. “Wonderful. Now let’s see if <em>I</em> can go back to sleep.”</p><p>Diana ignored her. In the darkness, she started to feel the pull of tiredness on her eyelids. However, despite trying, she spent a good while without being able to fall asleep. She didn’t often move a lot when asleep, but now she twisted and rolled on bed, feeling like no position was comfortable enough—was it the hotel bed, maybe?</p><p>“Check if there’s a pea under your matress,” Amanda joked, perhaps noticing Diana’s inability to sleep.</p><p>“Ha ha,” Diana said, failing to find the comment humorous.</p><p>“Do you want to talk? Maybe that’ll help,” Amanda suggested.</p><p>“I believe the last thing we need to be able to sleep is <em>talk,”</em> Diana said.</p><p>After a few moments of silence, Amanda replied, “have you ever camped?”</p><p>“Camped?”</p><p>“Yeah, you know. Go out into the woods, sleep in a tent…”</p><p>“I know what camping is. I just want to know what does it have to do with this,” Diana said, exhasperated.</p><p>“There was this one time,” Amanda begun, “when I went out with my family. A group of five cousins and one of the girls’ father. We were all roughly the same age, save for Lois. She was three years younger than the youngest of us—eight, at the time. I was twelve—and a scaredy-cat. We had fun and all of that, but when night came, Lois insisted in sleeping with us big girls instead of staying with her dad in the tent. We let her, but we all suspected she’d end up going to her father’s tent anyways. To our surprise, she didn’t. We stayed until late, and when everyone else had fallen asleep, I stood. I wanted to prank George—Lois’s father.</p><p>“So I’m about to leave, but then feel…something, and when I turn, Lois is right there, staring at me with big green and sad eyes. What choice did I have? I told her to follow me quietly, and she did. We talked for a while, and she told me she wasn’t scared of sleeping away from her father, but she was scared of the forest around us.</p><p>“That’s when I figured I wasn’t going to pull that prank off after all. I sit her next to the embers of the dying fireplace with the light of a lantern and start asking her about her interests. Books. She liked reading. How the hell does an eight year old develop a taste for reading, I’ll never know. In any case, she spoke excitedly about many of her favourite sagas, and I listened.</p><p>“By the time we were done, she was yawning and rubbing her eyes. I sit next to her and let her rest on my lap, which seems to help—and boom, she’s asleep. A few moments later I carried her into our tent and set her down and she slept like a baby.</p><p>“Next morning we all woke up to the angry cursing of George, who raised to find a carefully crafted contraption that dropped a bucket of cold water over him as soon as he stepped out of the tent,” she finished with a chuckle.</p><p>Diana blinked. “Huh. That was… really nice of you,” she admitted.</p><p>“Did you learn anything from the tale?” Diana’s eyes, adjusted to the darkness, saw a hint of a smile on Amanda’s face.</p><p>“Alright, maybe talking can help. Is there any topic you had in mind?” she said, giving in to the pressure.</p><p>“Hmmm…” Amanda snapped her fingers. “Right. Are Hannah and Barbara an item?”</p><p>“What?” Diana was surprised by the random question. “Why do you want to know?”</p><p>“Just answer.”</p><p>“… No, as far as I know,” Diana said with some reluctance. “They’re just close friends.”</p><p>“Huh. Wonder if they’ll become one,” Amanda commented. “It’s kinda hard to picture them apart from each other, eh?”</p><p>“Are you interested in them for any reason?” Diana asked. “Do you, maybe, like one of them?”</p><p>Amanda laughed. “No, Nines no. Sorry to say this, but they’re a pair of bitches. Maybe not as bad as I first thought, but I’ve enough with being their friend. No need to ever take this any further,” the disbelief in her voice meant that she was likely being truthful. “I just wanted to know.”</p><p>“Any conversation topics that don’t involve potentially violating the privacy of my friends?” Diana asked.</p><p>“Dunno. Got any ideas?”</p><p>Diana paused. There were plenty of questions she could throw at Amanda, but she felt many of those would be offensive to the redhead. She ended up going for a simple one. “Where did you learn to fly like you do?”</p><p>There was a moment of silence. “Man, that’s a good one. It’s a long story, do you really want it?”</p><p>“Sure. It may just be boring enough for me to fall asleep,” she teased.</p><p>Amanda snorted. “Well prepare, because after this you’re not sleeping in a hundred years!”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And after that short break, we're back to our regular schedule! And by regular I mean whatever my pace is with writing these.<br/>Fun fact: I broke the 50k words already.<br/>And as always, don't forget to comment! Please, it's good for my health.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Obviously, they did get to sleep, but Diana had to admit Amanda’s story had been rather impressive.</p><p>Today, it was the girls’ turn to stay in the hotel while Diana went out to see the museum, her disguise an illusion—the biggest problem had been hiding her distinctive hair under a hat so that if things went wrong and the illusion broke she wouldn’t be instantly recognized. She also wore her mask under it, since you never knew.</p><p>It was raining, so under an umbrella, Diana made her way to the Olde Nine Treasury.</p><p>The building’s façade was of a sickly green color, and it was of roman design. On top of that, it was thin, just about half the size of the buildings next to it—and short, with only one floor in comparison to the three floors of its neighbors.</p><p>A small set of stairs led up to the entrance, a glass door that let Diana see the entrance corridor. She stepped in, stopped by the booth to buy an entrance—Ten pounds? Diana wondered who was the real thief here—and made her way into the first room.</p><p>The Olde Nine Treasury was small, with white walls and checkered patterns of white and black marble on the floor. Each room had less than ten items in display, and a lot of them weren’t very interesting. What made the museum thrive despite its outrageous price and not very interesting collection was the connection every witch felt to the Nines. Not only descendants of them considered them important—they were the most important witches of human history. Something akin to demigods: Admired and respected, though not quite worshipped.</p><p>Diana pretended to be interested in the items of the room as she examined the walls. There was ventilation she could maybe crawl in as a mouse, or maybe send her little fairy friend along. She should try putting the hologram over the fairy; now that authorities knew of Artemis’s association with the little fellow, they wouldn’t be as easily tricked by the shadowy figure.</p><p>She also took note of the roof—it was lower than it should, which meant there was likely an attic or maybe just empty space up there below the roof—before moving on to the next room. This one had a few items on display belonging to Beatrix Cavendish, though not Cavendish Heirlooms. Beatrix had lived a long life and not everything she’d ever owned ended up as leftovers for her family.</p><p>In this case, a medallion, a pair of boots and a broken staff. The medallion was gold and had the face of someone Diana didn’t recognize. A gift from a king of old that she’d accepted reluctantly, but had asked the kingdom to keep safe for her. Did it even count as Beatrix’s if she’d never actually worn it? The boots were of simple leather, though probably kept from erasing in history thanks to magic. One of many pairs Beatrix had gifted a village in winter after they’d been buried in snow; they kept your entire body warm if you wore them. And the broken staff didn’t have a clear history—magic tracing had confirmed it was indeed Beatrix’s, but how it had broken was a mystery. Had it been a battle? A failed spell? Had Beatrix tripped and fallen on it? It was impossible to know.</p><p>This room was very much the same as the previous one in terms of security. There were only two cameras per room, but that’d change once they sent the calling card. All of this information gathering would likely be overwritten once that happened, but it was still useful to do this: If they knew what they could do now, it’d be easier to spot problems in security later.</p><p>Diana moved on. With all the rooms being roughly the same, she spent less and less time in each of them—save for the last one. Here, items once belonging to descendants of the Nines stood with their histories explained. There was a conspicuously empty spot near one of the corners where something was clearly missing. And a door that said ‘staff only’.</p><p>Just looking at the cameras, Diana could tell there was a blind spot near one of the corners. It was so early in the morning that there was barely anyone here, and so she didn’t have to wait long to transform herself into a fly. She flew towards the door and slipped under it. On the other side was a narrow corridor that led to different offices and the like. Diana flew through it, sometimes peeking inside doors to see storage rooms or employee bathrooms.</p><p>Finally, she reached the place she’d been looking for when doing this: The main office, with Sean Douglas’s name on it. The Rod of Asclepius was likely inside a safe of some kind, and Diana was certain it’d be inside this office. She flew inside.</p><p>The office was fancy. Leather couches and a tea table, a massive desk with an expensive office chair, and bookshelves full of a variety of tomes and artifacts, all illuminated by the skylight—through which it was apparent the sky was clearing up. Diana would have loved to stop to examine them, but she had to see… Ah, there it was! A safe about half as tall as Diana stood on a corner, it was just about big enough to be able to hold the Heirloom.</p><p>Could Diana steal it now? Probably. She was tempted to do it. What Sean was doing… He didn’t deserve the chance to defend himself. Beyond that, maybe Diana could try to sneak inside of it now to cast a tracking spell on the Rod, just in case it was moved…</p><p>Absently, she flew towards the safe. Knowing the combination, too, wasn’t such a bad idea. And what if she took it and left a fake behind? She could still pretend to steal it later, to keep up her image. After all, it was just once…</p><p>When she landed on the safe, it was instantly apparent something was wrong.  Something sapped her strength and a second later she turned back into a human in a puff of smoke, falling to the floor on her butt. Shocked, she looked around, feeling the carpeted floor under her fingers.</p><p>An alarm triggered, the window behind the desk was suddenly blocked with steel bars, and before she could even get up, four guards entered the room, two of them holding wands and the other two tasers.</p><p>Artemis jumped to her feet, cap dropping and letting her platinum and tea-green hair flow. Diana was wearing jeans, a shirt and shoes: Not the most optimal attire for movement. With a flick of the wrist she confirmed an anti-magic field. <em>The safe was rigged, it triggered the field. He was expecting me.</em> Why hadn’t Diana brought her ribbon? Idiot! Now they were defenseless! Maybe Artemis would be able to slip past these guards. The anti-magic field couldn’t be big, not if it had been triggered automatically and from a steel object such as a safe. She needed to get as far from it as possible-</p><p>More guards came running down the hallway, and the four in the room started slowly advancing towards her.</p><p>Artemis backed up slowly. The guards were wary, and she could see the fear in her eyes. They expected a trick, and it was good they did, because it gave her time to think.</p><p>No magic. No items. She was outnumbered and without escape routes. All because of a careless mistake… no, a sequence of careless mistakes. What could she do? Run forward, hope to only get hit with batons and be able to slip away… No, her body wasn’t enhanced, she’d never outrun these guards.</p><p>The sounds of the world seemed muffled by her own heart thumping on her ears. She couldn’t do it—she was done for. There was no possible escape, not from this situation. She’d lost.</p><p>When she hit the desk with her back, she stopped moving. She stood up straighter, and she reached up to her mask. If she was going to be taken, she’d do it with pride. Surprisingly, the guards jumped back at the movement, likely thinking she was plotting.</p><p>“My oh my!” A woman’s voice suddenly boomed in the room. Everyone paused, looking around for its source—without finding it. “It seems you’ve gotten yourself into quite the pickle, Artemis!”</p><p>Finally, Artemis looked up—there, stepping on the edge of the skylight, a figure stood with a smile.</p><p>Red and black cape dancing with the wind, the woman jumped into the room—despite the roof being easily five meters up. Before hitting the ground, though, her cape flapped, slowing her fall. Had it shined for a moment, or had it just been a trick of the light?</p><p>With a red vest over a black shirt, a black pair of pants and a small version of a witch’s hat slightly tilted on her head, the woman stood tall between Artemis and the guards, holding… a silver rapier.</p><p><em>Amanda?!</em> Diana thought, flabbergasted. But of course it was Amanda, with that orange hair.</p><p>Amanda pointed at the guards. “Come at me, if you dare!”</p><p>Confused, the guards backed away more from the new thief. Then, she turned, letting Diana see she wore a red mask not unlike hers—and she was smirking. Without giving anyone time to react, she jumped back, hanging the rapier on the black ribbon tied around her waist and taking Diana with an arm. With her free hand, she pointed up—and from her sleeve shot the small grappling hook-gun Constanze had made.</p><p>“Farewell, suckers!” She exclaimed, pressing the trigger. A second later they were flying up at an incredible speed for such a small device, and they shot out of the skylight. Without pause, Amanda took out the silver rapier, which turned into a broom in an eyeblink. She took Diana in a princess carry as she carefully landed on it and stood a few seconds over the skylight, as if showing off what she’d stolen, before flying away.</p><p>She was still smiling and her eyes shined with the sunlight in a way Diana had never seen before…</p><p>“Turn us invisible.”</p><p>Diana was too overwhelmed to get what she had said. “Huh?”</p><p>“Invisible, girl! We’re in broad daylight, turn us invisible!” Amanda shouted.</p><p>“R-right!” Diana did as told, and they disappeared from the sky. It took them less than a minute to reach their room at the hotel, where Amanda easily jumped through the open window with Diana in arms.</p><p>A few seconds later, their invisibility disappeared.</p><p>Amanda put Diana down, and Diana stumbled a few steps before falling on her bed.</p><p>She looked up, at the redhead who was taking off her hat and mask. She was smirking, and for the first time since knowing her, Diana didn’t find the expression annoying. “You… saved me,” she said, taking off her mask and putting it down before grabbing her head. “I was done for.”</p><p>“I know, right!” Amanda said, excited. “Am I cool or am I cool?”</p><p>“I…” Diana went over the events in her head. “I…” What had come over her? That had been a stupid mistake. It could have cost her everything. “Thank you, Amanda,” she said, trying to sound composed. She could tell she’d failed. Still, she put her hands down and tried to put on her neutral face.</p><p>She examined Amanda’s attire. It was strangely familiar… “Ah, this?” Amanda pointed at herself. “Cool, eh? I loved the Witch Knight movies when I was a kid, so I took… heavy inspiration from her. And by that I mean I copied her attire, only changed the shirt color, and the skirt for pants. And the cape’s longer, but whatever.”</p><p>The mention of the name sparked Diana’s memory. “Ah, I… saw posters of it, at the time,” she said. “I don’t think I like them.”</p><p>Amanda’s jaw dropped. “What? Come on, everyone loves them!”</p><p>Diana pressed her lips. “They’re awfully inaccurate to witch culture and the workings of magic,” she explained.</p><p>Amanda gave her a flat look. “Yeah, of course it’d be because of that. Anyways, the outfit’s cool, and I figured: If you can copy Chariot, why can’t I copy someone else?”</p><p>“I… Guess that’s alright,” Diana said. “It is… rather cool.”</p><p>With a grimance, Amanda clicked her tongue. “Never again say ‘cool’. It sounds wrong coming out of your mouth,” she said.</p><p>The comment brought a little smile out of Diana. “I’ll take that as a compliment. Now, let me ask: What were you doing at the museum?”</p><p>“If you thought I was gonna stay here all day, you’re nuts. And I wanted to see how it felt to wear this properly. I didn’t expect anything to happen, but you’re lucky I did all of that, eh?” She went back to that smirk. “You owe me, cabbage hair.”</p><p>Diana had to admit to that, and the cabbage hair comment didn’t bother her as much as it would’ve otherwise. Standing, she noticed she’d finally regained her stability. “Well, I suppose we should send the calling card this night. They already know we’re here anyways.”</p><p>“Not a bad idea,” Amanda nodded. “Now, if you excuse me, I’m going to change into more comfortable clothes,” she took a bundle of clothes she’d left on the floor and slipped into the bathroom. Diana watched her go and laid on her back, putting an arm over her face. Where were Hannah and Barbara? Maybe they’d gone out.</p><p>The weight of what had just happened really started to settle in, and every mistake she’d made now appeared to be monumental. She’d grown overconfident. That was stupid of her—real stupid. IF she’d been caught like that…</p><p>No, better not to think like that. She couldn’t let this cause the opposite problem, make her too self-conscious. She’d learn from it. Never again would she let herself in such a vulnerable state.</p><p>Never.</p><p> </p><p>“Do we <em>really</em> need to watch this movie?” Diana said. “I had a tiring day, I’d rather sleep.”</p><p>“Do you want me to tell Hannah and Barbara about your mess?” Amanda raised an eyebrow.</p><p>Diana didn’t answer, instead keeping her eyes on the TV, where a young woman with a sense of justice practiced with a rapier in what appeared to be nineteenth century—even if it was full of anachronisms. And every time the main character did magic with only her hands it made Diana mad. Couldn’t the people who made the movie have <em>asked</em> an actual witch how it all worked? It wasn’t so simple to channel magic with only your hands! Especially for such a young witch!</p><p>Despite these things, the movie <em>was</em> entertaining. The main character reminded Diana of Akko, and maybe Amanda too: Headstrong, impulsive and fighting against the traditions of witches—or this movie’s perception of those traditions—in pos of doing ‘knight magic’, which wasn’t an actual thing, even if the concept was sort of interesting by itself.</p><p>“How <em>did</em> you get caught like that, anyways? You didn’t tell me,” Amanda said.</p><p>“Weren’t you excited for the movie?” Diana asked, trying to dodge the question.</p><p>“Meh, the next ten minutes or so are the slow part of it.” She shrugged. “So?”</p><p>Diana hesitated, but she supposed Amanda had a right to know, and maybe even learn from her mistake. Takinga deep breath, she explained, “I thought I could get into the safe, maybe even steal the item and leave behind a replica to re-steal later. But as soon as I touched the safe, it triggered an anti-magic field.”</p><p>“Boy, those are going to be a problem for you.”</p><p>Diana nodded. Anti-magic fields were complicated and had been in disuse for centuries, as Magic had been so limited for so long that they weren’t really needed. Diana didn’t know how to deal with them. “I genuinely thought I was done for. I cannot show you enough gratitude for saving me,” she expressed. The words didn’t come naturally to her, but forcing them out was better than leaving them unsaid.</p><p>“Hey,” Amanda put on that smirk of hers and pointed at herself with a thumb, “you <em>are</em> working with me, after all.”</p><p>Diana nodded. Amanda didn’t say anything else, so she didn’t either. The movie continued, but Diana no longer paid attention to it. It only took a few minutes before Amanda turned to her once more. “Don’t let the mistake get to you. Constanze is already making tools like mine for each of us.”</p><p>“That’s… good to know,” Diana sighed. “But these fields aren’t very common. They’re hard to maintain, and few people can use them—I can create small ones, but they’re only two meters wide. Big ones require a lot of concentration and magic. Trap like the safe only work as surprise elements, and-”</p><p>“Diana,” Amanda interrupted. “I don’t need a lecture.”</p><p>Diana turned to look at the redhead. There was… worry, in her expression. “Excuse me. I just thought…”</p><p>“I want you to vent,” Amanda explained, shifting in bed to sit up straighter. “Or to let go of the clear emotions you’re bottling up about the issue. You didn’t even send the calling card like you said you would.”</p><p>Diana blinked. That’s right, she was going to… “It slipped my mind,” she said.</p><p>“Things <em>never</em> slip your mind… Or that’s how you present yourself, most of the time. You’re under stress, girl, you need to chill out,” Amanda explained. “The mistake you pulled today wasn’t just because of overconfidence: You’re likely growing impatient, and anxious. The guy who we’re stealing from is an asshole, after all.”</p><p>“I appreciate the concern,” Diana said. “But I hardly think it’s needed.”</p><p>“It is,” Amanda insisted. “Listen, I’m not your caretaker. In fact, I don’t even know if one could even call us ‘friends’,” she paused for a moment. “But it’d be a pain in the ass if I’ve got to save you again, so instead of stressing <em>more</em> just take a breather and get back into the game with a fresh mindset.”</p><p>She was staring at Diana with pretended boredom, but her voice spoke to more. She cared more than she admitted, and… she was right. Diana <em>did</em> need a break. Not just from this. From everything. “Maybe you’re right. I suppose I <em>could</em> take tomorrow off.”</p><p>“Perfect. Let us three handle everything. Tomorrow, you stay here or go out or whatever—tell <em>us</em> what to do and we’ll do it, no problem.”</p><p>Diana nodded. Satisfied, Amanda went back to watch the movie, which had apparently reached the parts she did enjoy. One more thing, however, crossed Diana’s mind. “Ah, Amanda?”</p><p>“Hmm?” Amanda absently replied.</p><p>“I really do think your attire is quite charming,” she said.</p><p>Amanda chuckled. “Now that sounds more like you.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This was roughly the chapter when I kinda started figuring out I wanted to go for Diamanda with this fic. I don't intend to turn this into a romance, although my desires often have little weight in what I write in the end, given my workflow and style. <br/>Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Don't forget to comment!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Diana was learning something: Taking a break was hard. She couldn’t stop worrying about what was happening, or feeling guilty for not doing anything. Despite giving instructions to her friends as to what they should do today—she’d set Amanda to steal a security guard’s uniform, Hannah to keep a close eye on the museum in case the safe was moved—or Amanda got in trouble—and Barbara to use her divination to see if she could get any readings that may help them.</p><p>They, in turn, had gifted Diana a phone. A normal smartphone, though with a special SIM card designed by Croix—it connected not only to mobile reds and the internet, but to magical webs as well. Diana would have preferred to use the walkie-talkies, but the other three said that’d be way too suspicious. A phone like this was what Croix had once used as a wand, right? Or maybe hers had been specially designed for that?</p><p>Either way, this thing wasn’t too useful. What was she supposed to do with it? She didn’t use the internet with regularity. She knew how to search stuff in google, and had occasionally watched a youtube video. She had no social media accounts or anything of the sort, and even if she did, she figured they would be abandoned the second this day was over.</p><p><em>“You look depressed</em>,” a voice said as Diana stared blankly at the screen. <em>“Why are you still in your hotel room? Go grab a coffee or something.”</em></p><p>“Croix?” Diana raised an eyebrow.</p><p>
  <em>“The one and only. How’s the break going?”</em>
</p><p>“You know about that?”</p><p>
  <em>“Your teammates asked me to keep an eye on you. Or a camera, in this case. Did you know flowers can take up to two months to bloom?”</em>
</p><p>Diana spent a few seconds processing, confused by the non-sequitur. “I… assume it has to do with that magical flower you were looking for?”</p><p>
  <em>“Correct. Well, it turns out this flower’s cycle is ten times as long. Twenty months! And it’s only at about nine or ten months… and I can’t take it with me. So this one’s a dead end for another year.”</em>
</p><p>“I fail to see what that has to do with me.”</p><p><em>“Just wanted to point out I’ve also had a shitty day. Wait, let me…”</em> The screen suddenly shifted, and Croix’s face appeared on it with a smile. Her hair was mostly hidden by a wool hat and a scarf was tied around her neck.  “There, much better,” her voice sounded far clearer too.</p><p>“Hello,” Diana waved her hand in front of the camera.</p><p>Croix chuckled. “Hi. So, you messed up, eh?”</p><p>Diana nodded. “I got carried away. It won’t happen again.” She wasn’t sure if she was telling that to Croix or to herself.</p><p>“You don’t have to say that to me, kiddo,” Croix rolled her eyes. “Now do as I tell you and go out. You know how to put on illusions, don’t you?”</p><p>“What’s the point of going out on my own?”</p><p>“You won’t be on your own, I’m free of vigilance for a couple of hours. Come on,” Croix insisted. “It will do me some good to see a proper city after all the time I’ve spent here.”</p><p>“I’m starting to think you’re not doing this for me.”</p><p>“You may be right,” Croix winked. “Now come on.”</p><p>Giving in to the pressure, Diana decided to oblige, standing and putting on the face of the woman she’d pretended to be this morning to rent once again this very room.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s so noisy,” Diana said. “And it smells… ugh,” she continued. “Big cities are annoying.”</p><p>“It’s funny, really. You have the talk and etiquette of the highest members of society, but if anyone read your words they’d take you for a country bumpkin.”</p><p>Diana walked down the street to where Croix had pointed she could go grab a coffee, a secluded but nice establishment where she wouldn’t draw anyone’s attention even by accident. Still, Diana had taken necessary precautions, carrying a backpack with her ribbon in it and her mask under the illusion. She was never again going to get caught without her tools.</p><p>And she started realizing she needed to take it further. If she relied solely on magic, things would go south for her. She should get rid of her hair to allow for fast wig changes. Contact lenses for eye color, makeup for her face… She needed to be able to become another person at a moment’s notice.</p><p>Could she do it? She could learn how to do all of this fairly quickly with the right spell and fast reading, but that’d mean taking a break from thievery until she was done with learning. She <em>could</em> also use the time to try to get in shape. It’d take much longer than a couple months to become as athletic as Amanda, but it was a start. Oh, and sleight of hand tricks could be useful too. Learning to properly break out of handcuffs, managing to pickpocket in an eyeblink…</p><p>So much to do. Why had she thought magic would be enough? She’d barely made it out of the building a couple weeks ago, hadn’t she learned her lesson?</p><p>When she finally came across the café, she hesitated to go in. “Maybe I should call this off.”</p><p>“You’re already here, why would you call it off now?” Croix asked.</p><p>“I meant the theft.”</p><p>“I know.”</p><p>With a sigh, Diana stepped in. <em>Already here, eh?</em> Croix had a point. They still had the element of surprise with two thieves no-one knew about. And there was still the auction, which Diana… <em>The auction.</em></p><p><em>Wouldn’t it be better to try to buy the rod?</em> Barbara had asked.</p><p>Diana turned around and exited the café, realizing something.</p><p>“What’s gotten into you?” Croix asked.</p><p>“Break’s over,” she declared, and headed right back to the hotel.</p><p> </p><p>“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Amanda asked. “You should be taking a break, not coming up with new plots.”</p><p>“It’s useless, I’ve already tried to dissuade her,” Croix said from the phone.</p><p>“You stole the uniform, did you not?” Diana asked to Amanda.</p><p>“Of course, who do you take me for?” She held up a bag. “There was this old locker in the staff changing room that had a couple of dusty ones. After a wash, they should be ready for use.”</p><p>“Delightful.” Diana then looked at Hannah and Barbara. “I’m sorry, but it seems you won’t be utilizing your gentlewoman thief outfits this time around.”</p><p>“Eh, it’s fine as long as we can help you,” Hannah nodded.</p><p>“I suppose that’ll give us some time to get a bit of ghost essence to enchant our capes,” Barbara said.</p><p>“You also wear capes?” Amanda asked.</p><p>“Not me,” Hannah declared.</p><p>Barbara rolled her eyes. “Ok, enchant a cape and a trenchco-”</p><p>“Shhht! Hey, don’t spoil it!” Hannah suddenly put a hand over Barbara’s mouth, forcing her to stay quiet. She then glared at Diana and Amanda. “You heard nothing, got it?”</p><p>Amanda, ignoring the outburst, raised an eyebrow at Diana. “And you’re <em>sure</em> this new idea has nothing to do with your…” he eyed Diana’s teammates. “Tiredness?”</p><p>Diana nodded. “Yes. I think this is definitely our best shot at the theft. We’ll strike when the item is most vulnerable.”</p><p>“Well,” Croix chimed in, “if you need someone to deal with security cameras, I’m sure I can cook something up from here. Give me a couple days, surely Constanze can send something better than this cheap smartphone my way.”</p><p>“Can you even receive packages?” Hannah asked.</p><p>“Technically, no, but that hasn’t stopped me before,” Croix said with a wink.</p><p>Diana would have said something about that very obvious breach in the security around her, but she wasn’t one to talk about that now, not anymore.</p><p> </p><p>“Calling card sent,” Diana said after once again entering her room.</p><p>“Great. Do we really need to go back to Luna Nova until the auction?”</p><p>“Yes. Should anyone be watching Luna Nova, I doubt the teachers will be able to fool them into thinking all three of you are still there. Better if we go back for a week; we’ve already done the reconnaissance we needed and Daryl is already in possession of the museum’s map, so we better lay low until the day of the theft.”</p><p>“And if they push back the auction?”</p><p>“Then we push back the whole ordeal,” Diana said. “The calling card was clear: On the night of the auction, Shiny Artemis will steal the Rod of Asclepius.”</p><p>“If they cancel the auction altogether? Or do it by phone, or online?” Amanda raised an eyebrow.</p><p>Diana, once again feeling confident—though not overly so—allowed some satisfaction as she said, “I severely doubt that’ll happen. Some of the buyers are old witches and wizards who refuse to use modern technology, and the threat of a thief stealing their money rather than the treasure—however unfounded their fears may be—means they’ll want the transaction to be done quickly. Even if they were to be left out, I put Croix and Constanze to keep tabs on Douglas: If he tries anything of the sort, we’ll know and move in. The night of the Auction doesn’t stop being so even if the buyers aren’t all in the same room.”</p><p>“I like how you think,” Amanda smirked. “Shall we have a nice meal this, our last night here?” She asked, moving to grab the room service phone.</p><p>“Sure. I believe I saw chicken and salad on the menu, which I would-”</p><p>“Hush, we’re not eating <em>healthy</em> stuff. I said nice,” Amanda waved a dismissive hand as Diana frowned in confusion. However, as Amanda asked for a bunch of sweets and different brands of snacks to be brought to them, she begun to understand, and the horrifying idea of eating nothing but trash food pushed her to stand.</p><p>“Amanda, I would implore of you to ask for at least <em>water</em> to drink. I am not a fan of carbonated drinks.”</p><p>The redhead eyed her and rolled her eyes. “Do you do wine?”</p><p>“Amanda!” Diana exclaimed. “We’re teenagers!”</p><p>“Don’t act so surprised, I know you’ve had wine and champagne, you’ve said as much.”</p><p>“Only a few cups, during important toasts and parties!”</p><p>“Well we’ll have our own important toast and party!”</p><p>“I <em>refuse</em> to drink alcohol! We need to be in perfect conditions, both physically and mentally, if we-”</p><p>“Alright, alright,” Amanda lifted a hand and spoke to the phone. “Bring two cans of beer and a big water bottle. No, I’m not taking them from the mini-fridge, if I wanted to be swindled I’d just go out at night. That’s all you can get me, really? Come on, we’re at a supposedly good hotel! Ugh, well, guess I’ll take it, better than nothing. Yes, ASAP. Thanks a lot.” Then she hung up. “There.”</p><p>Diana frowned. “The beer was for you, I assume?”</p><p>“One of them, sure. The other one, we’ll see. I’ll go for Hannah and Barbara,” she said.</p><p>“What? You can’t do that, Amanda. We can’t be in the same room during the night—we’ve discussed this.”</p><p>“Come on, it’s our last night here, what can happen?” Diana didn’t budge, keeping a harsh look nailed on the redhead’s eyes. “You’re no fun, you know that?”</p><p>“You’re still in time to cancel all of your orders,” Diana said.</p><p>“Nonsense, we’ll have fun anyways.”</p><p>“And if I said I won’t pay for it?”</p><p>“You will, or I’ll use my own credit card and then we’ll be discovered, your choice,” Amanda smirked.</p><p>Diana sighed, resigned. She could pay for it, but she didn’t appreciate the inclusion of alcohol in the mix. Two cans of beer shouldn’t be enough to do real harm, yet it still made her uncomfortable. But who was she to judge, really? Amanda had a point. Diana <em>had</em>, as stated, had cups of wine and champagne. The circumstances were different, but in the end, if it wasn’t a copious amount of alcohol, Diana supposed she shouldn’t be too bothered by it.</p><p> </p><p>Diana didn’t eat a lot, but she did help herself to some of the snacks. Fries, Chips, some chocolate and even ice-cream. Her stomach would regret it later, but despite her qualms, it was hard to say no to such a feast, and there’d be so many leftovers…</p><p>“You know,” Amanda said while looking at the TV, where they were watching another Witch Knight movie, “I’m really looking forward to our theft.”</p><p>“You’re speaking too loudly,” Diana warned.</p><p>“Ugh, stop being so uptight,” Amanda said. Wait, her voice… did it sound weird?</p><p>“Are you drunk?” Diana asked.</p><p>“What? No, of course not,” Amanda replied, but now that Diana looked, she did appear to have a bit of blush on her cheeks , and her blinks appeared to be too slow… “Two beers wouldn’t be enough to get anyone drunk, anyways.”</p><p>Yes, her words were slightly slurred. Was it just tiredness? Diana doubted it. She decided to ignore Amanda, not looking forward to interacting with her if she was intoxicated.</p><p>“Ah, ignore me, will ya?” Amanda sounded annoyed. “I’m telling you, I’m not… Argh, whatever. Always so stuck up. You think you’re above the rest of us mortals.”</p><p>“I do <em>not,</em>” Diana took the bait, much to her dismay.</p><p>“Sure you do. You’re beautiful, smart and kind! And you <em>know it.</em> So you let it get to your head, and the rest of us can only watch you above your high horse because, deep inside, we know you deserve to be there,” Amanda said. “It’s <em>so</em> annoying.”</p><p>Diana pressed her lips. She didn’t want to listen to the rambles of a drunk teenager. Still, she couldn’t let it go so easily. “Well, excuse me for trying to be the best version of myself I can. If that’s deserving of hate, then be it.”</p><p>“Oh don’t play the victim,” Amanda said. “No one hates you! That’s the problem. Even I’ve tried, but it’s <em>impossible</em>. I find you annoying, but I find all aristocracy annoying. You’re like… Akko.”</p><p>“Huh?” Diana wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or an insult.</p><p>“You have such a <em>pure</em> mindset. You take things one hundred percent seriously, you always act according to who you want to be. I’m damn jealous of that,” the redhead said. “You and Akko have that connection, that bond that just helps you grow closer. And you know?” Amanda turned to Diana. “I thought this phantom thieves stuff would maybe get us on a similar level of friendship. I mean, come on! But no. Even in this, it’s so hard to fault you for your actions. I mean, come on! A guy who has an item that could potentially cure everything? What if it cures cancer or something? And he wants to sell it, make a profit, and make it likely it’ll never see the light of day again! How can you <em>not</em> root for the thief who wants to impede that?!”</p><p>“Please lower your voice,” Diana said, still confused by the direction of Amanda’s speech.</p><p>“Screw that!” Amanda shouted. “Damn your cabbage ass hair and your pretty face. You should have seen yourself when I rescued you the other day,” she smirked. “You looked like a caged animal. And then you showed some real emotions for a while that weren’t disappointment or anger at bad students.” Diana refrained from making a comment on how she’d been trying to… “Sorry, that was unfair. You’ve been trying to be more emotive, haven’t you? Another thing we have to thank Atsuko Kagari for,” she said Akko’s name with annoyance.</p><p>“Are you… mad at her?” Diana asked, unsure.</p><p>“Nah, it’s impossible to be mad at her… most of the time. I <em>am</em> jealous, though. She swoops in out of nowhere, saves the world or some shit, and then she acts as if none of that had happened and moves on with her life normally. No pressure, no expectations other than the ones she’s placed on herself. If only I could act as boldly as you or her…” she threw a look at Diana. “But it’s useless.”</p><p>“You act pretty bold all the time, if I may.”</p><p>“I act like an asshole. I break rules, make others mad. I’m sick of authorities and choose to rebel not because I’m bold but because it’s the only way I know how to fight back,” Amanda said. “If I truly were bold, I’d stop it with the petty stuff and go on and quit school, get a girlfriend and fly off to a damn deserted island to make a life in peace.”</p><p>She took one of the empty beer bottles, and Diana feared she would throw it—but she instead finished whatever had been left at the bottom. “That sounds extreme.”</p><p>“How other way could I ever truly escape any semblance of authority, then? If I stay in a country, I’ll always have laws to abide and a government to control me.” Diana didn’t have an answer to that. “See? I would do it. I can take care of my needs with magic. I’d just want a girlfriend. Maybe someone like you, to help me be organized and shit.”</p><p>“Really? That’s all you’d need a girlfriend for?”</p><p>“Do I <em>need</em> to spell out what else we’d do?” the redhead raised an eyebrow.</p><p>Diana rolled her eyes. “No, and I didn’t mean <em>that. </em>I meant, you know, maybe you’d want a partner to keep you company and help you not go insane. The way you said it made it sound like what you actually needed was an agenda or a PC.”</p><p> “I…” Amanda seemed surprised by Diana’s remark. “That one really did fly over your head after all, huh. Well, whatever, I’m done talking,” she reached for the remote and turned off the TV. “Goodnight,” she said, facing the other way and laying down, not moving.</p><p>Diana opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it. No need to pay heed to words Amanda would likely not even remember well tomorrow morning. She waited for a while, until Amanda’s breathing became steady and she was asleep, before standing and picking up the mess she’d left around her bed. As she was picking up the beer bottles, she looked at them with scorn. This entire debacle had happened because of…</p><p><em>This…</em> She frowned, looking at the bottle and then at Amanda. She picked the other bottle, the same. <em>This is non-alcoholic beer.</em></p><p>Pausing, the blonde took a few seconds to realize that she’d dismissed everything Amanda had said as meaningless rambling... when she’d probably been speaking from the heart.</p><p>She finished cleaning up before going to bed.</p><p>Only, she barely managed to sleep, going over the conversation over and over again.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>You thought I was gonna have teenagers drinking in this story? Of course not!<br/>That is, at least, until I decide to change the rating—which will probably be pushed up to T sooner rather than later. <br/>Hope you enjoyed, and if you did, don't forget to comment!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The topic wasn’t touched upon again.</p><p>Diana didn’t forget the conversation, but if Amanda had no interest in bringing it up again, she’d respect the decision. Drunk or not, opening up to others is no easy task. Maybe Amanda regretted some of the things she’d said, maybe she didn’t remember them due to tiredness. Either way, Diana kept the knowledge and tried to treat Amanda the same way she always did.</p><p>Save for maybe one idea that had sprung to her mind, but she’d tackle it once this heist was done.</p><p>“Here we are, young lady,” Diana’s driver said. “Good luck.”</p><p>“Thank you,” Diana nodded and stepped out of the slick black car. She was wearing a black night gown, quite mature looking in a seventeen-year old, and as soon as she stepped out she became the focus of the crowd: They weren’t expecting her.</p><p>Which made sense, because Diana had just arrived to the front of the Olde Nine Treasury, the same museum she was to steal this very night.</p><p>Reporters and Artemis fans alike stood equally shocked for a few seconds, while the presence of some covert police among them became evident for their subtle difference in reaction, turning away or pretending to be indifferent.</p><p>Of course, it didn’t take long for anyone with any interest in Shiny Artemis to try and reach Diana for questioning: How was this even possible? They were all so certain Diana was Artemis! Was it, then, her aunt? One of her cousins?</p><p>She didn’t have to answer to anything, for the guards also managed to get past their shock and react in the way they should towards any guest: Protecting them from the crowd. As they made way for Diana, she had to dodge extended microphones and hands who wanted to touch her, certain that she was the Phantom Thief.</p><p>Diana smiled to herself once she stepped inside the main lobby of the museum, which had been remodeled with a platform and a dais on it, a red carpet and uncomfortable looking folding chairs. Maybe it was unfair to think like this, but she was quite proud of the plan she’d concocted to get suspicion off her back for at least a while. It was a simple one, but she couldn’t have done it if not for her helpers.</p><p>Two things became of note to Diana. One: There clearly was an anti-magic field around, if the sudden tug at her stomach she felt meant anything. Two: Some new cameras had been planted in the past hour. It seemed that Sean Douglas was slightly more conning than Diana had assumed. He’d figured out Artemis’s method and had left the upgrade to his security to the last second.</p><p>She greeted some of the other guests, as she knew them either from social gatherings or some business they may have done with the family. A number of them looked as shocked as the bystanders outside to see her, which she took satisfaction in. While by now news of her new friend were old, there was still debate about the nature of their relationship. Friends? Partners in crime? Or just a casualty? The Witch Knight hadn’t been seen again after or before rescuing Shiny Artemis, but some strange thefts <em>had</em> happened around the world—disappearance of historical items without a clue as to who or what had stolen them. Fingers were now pointed at her, and the newspaper Diana had gotten a hold of this morning speculated the two thieves may even be rivals, now in conflict over the Rod of Asclepius.</p><p>It took around fifteen minutes for all the guests to arrive and for the auction to start. With a starting price of two million pounds, Diana thoughts thing would go slowly—but they didn’t. The price kept going up. Two and a half, three, four, six, nine, fifteen. Before she could even begin to process how much this single item could cost, a young man stood, fixed his glasses and lifted a single finger. “Twenty-five million,” he said in a meek voice.</p><p>A few surprised gasps came out of the crowd. The woman running the auction asked if anyone wanted to raise the offer, but no-one stepped up to it. Diana wondered where was Sean Douglas, but she suspected he was back in his office, keeping an eye on the safe just in case.</p><p>The item was sold to the young man, and the auction was finished. He stood and was guided to the back of the museum. The most notorious aspect about him was the metallic suitcase he carried, as it was handcuffed to his wrist. Evidently, it was where he kept the money.</p><p>The guests slowly raised. Some mingled, while some stepped out as soon as they could. Not many of them looked too frustrated—they’d known the Rod was beyond their grasp, or they just didn’t care.</p><p>Diana said goodbye to a few of the people she’d greeted and proceeded to go outside, where a small line had formed to get into cars.</p><p>It was just about Diana’s turn when a weight seemed to be lifted from her chest.</p><p>The anti-magic field was gone. And that also meant Croix’s bug had been installed into the camera system.</p><p>Artemis smiled internally, silently thanking Hannah and Barbara for their great infiltration job. It was game time.</p><p>Right at that moment, the crowd screamed, gasped and shouted pointing at the sky. Artemis looked up to see herself flying down from the sky and pausing for a moment over the crowd to strike a pose. Cameras snapped photos and some people even asked for autographs before Shiny Artemis waved her rapier-wand and faded into invisibility.</p><p>The guards outside, including the ones that had been undercover, seemed to panic. Two of them approached Artemis as the guests inside the museum were guided outside. They checked her up to five times with confused expressions before accepting she had nothing to do with the theft. Every guest was checked at least two times, and the bystanders who hadn’t even stepped inside the museum too. After she was cleared, Artemis was still asked to stay in place.</p><p><em>“We’ve stopped the theft, but she’s getting away!”</em> A voice reached them from the roof of the museum. Everyone looked up just in time to see a blur of red and white flying above, pursued by half a dozen wizards and witches shooting at it.</p><p>After a minute or two, Artemis looked at the guards keeping watch over her. “I’m fairly certain that it wasn’t me. I’ve got business to attend to, could I leave?”</p><p>They exchanged a look, but after a second of doubt, they reluctantly agreed. Artemis hadn’t even been a witness: She hadn’t been inside the museum when it happened. She’d only seen Shiny Artemis for a few seconds, too.</p><p>She got into her black car—rented, as the Cavendish family wasn’t yet in a state where they could waste money on a transportation vehicle inferior to brooms—and waited until it had turned the corner to change into her clothes. The driver handed her the Holographic-Illusion-Disk, or HID for short, and she stuck it to the belt around her waist. “Thanks again.”</p><p>“My pleasure, young lady.”</p><p>Then Artemis took a walnut and teleported to the rooftop of the Olde Nine Treasury. The driver would take care of the walnut remains for her.</p><p>She smiled as she looked at the skylight. No anti-magic field, no guards on the roof anymore: This would be a smooth ride from now on.</p><p>Artemis approached the closed window and took the fairy out of her ribbon. “Slip inside, unlock the safe,” she said. It probably had the same anti-magic trap as before, but something told her it wouldn’t trigger if it was a fairy opening the safe from the inside. The fairy took a bite out of her shadow and slipped inside, unseen and unheard.</p><p>Looking into the office, she saw that indeed, Sean Douglas was inside. However, he sat next to the body of the young man, who was now unconscious… and he was trying to get the handcuffs off his wrist.</p><p>“Tsk,” the noise involuntarily left her mouth, her dislike for the man growing even stronger.</p><p>After a minute, Artemis prepared to jump down, standing and readying her rapier.</p><p>But a light from behind made her pause.</p><p>She turned, frowning—only to see that her red-haired teacher had stepped out of some hiding place up here and was aiming a lit wand at her. “Chariot,” Artemis nodded respectfully to the woman who’d inspired her outfit.</p><p>“Shiny Artemis,” Chariot lowered her wand, examining her with a skeptical look. “You look strange.”</p><p>“I suppose seeing someone modify your outfit could be considered strange,” Artemis replied with a smile.</p><p>“No, that’s not…” she paused, as if reconsidering. “Never mind. I’ll lay down and pretend you knocked me out.”</p><p>“Thank you for your assistance,” Artemis smiled as Chariot walked closer to the edge of the roof and laid down in an uncomfortable looking posture.</p><p>She looked back at the skylight. Bars had been installed on it, but Amanda—disguised as her—had already bent them. To think they could ever hold back a witch was silly at best.</p><p>The stupid man had managed to break the chain of the handcuffs and was now trying to find a way to open the suitcase. Artemis felt the sudden need to jump on top of the guy and knock him out, but she refrained.</p><p>Instead, she dropped in the middle of the room, graceful as always. A swift movement was enough to get her rapier-wand out of the ribbon, and she pointed it at the man, who was still kneeling and desperately trying to open the suitcase, to the point where he hadn’t noticed her.</p><p>“Sean Douglas!” Artemis yelled. She enjoyed how the man, with his greying hair and mean-looking face, jumped in fear, knowing he’d been caught doing something wrong. “You attained the Rod of Asclepius through dishonest means, taking advantage of a weakened family to gain a historical Heirloom from which you’ve tried to profit,” she eyed the suitcase with disgust. “Hand over the rod or face my wrath.”</p><p>Sean stood, dropping the suitcase. “Bah! You can’t get to it even if you threaten me,” he crossed his arms, far less scared of her than he should. Was that a smirk on his face? “Come on, try to do it! Open the safe. Rumor has it anti-magic doesn’t apply to you!”</p><p>Artemis smirked. She turned to the safe, and as she’d expected, a portion of its shadow didn’t look quite right—the fairy’s signal that it was already open. Sean needn’t know that, however. With a twist of her rapier, she dispelled the now disengaged anti-magic alarm and pulled open the door of the safe.</p><p>Sean’s jaw dropped as he watched her do this. “Such silly magic cannot stop me, old fool,” Artemis smiled. “I am Shiny Artemis, not a mere witch!”</p><p>She turned to the safe.</p><p>It was empty.</p><p>They’d been watching the museum for a while now. And given how the auction was supposed to go, the Rod of Asclepius <em>had</em> to be here. She slowly looked back to Sean, who now wore a shit-eating grin on his face. “So you opened the safe? Well good luck anyways!”</p><p>Artemis pointed her wand at him again. “You have five seconds to tell me where it is,” she said through gritted teeth.</p><p>“You’ll never find it! It’s inside another anti-magic safe, too, so forget tracking spells!” Sean laughed. “And get that toy off my face, I know you won’t harm me.”</p><p>She narrowed her eyes. “You overestimate my morality.”</p><p>Sean levitated off the ground.</p><p>“W-what?!” he screamed, now alarmed. “H-hey, let me down!” He reached into his pocket and fidgeted with something. “Guards!”</p><p>A couple of guards suddenly broke into the room, aiming taser guns at Artemis. The guards, however, didn’t shoot for a good five seconds: They were, after all, Hannah and Barbara. When they did shoot, Artemis was ready, and her cape deflected the projectiles with ease. “They don’t pay us enough for this!” Hannah shouted in a pretended scared tone. She and Barbara exchanged a look and ran away.</p><p>“C-cowards! Come back here!”</p><p>“Three,” Artemis said, raising the man into the air further.</p><p>“If you hurt me, you’ll never know!” Sean tried to argue.</p><p>“Two.” The man’s head bumped against the skylight.</p><p>“You fucking bitch, you don’t have the guts,” he said with spite.</p><p>Artemis bared her teeth. She’d had enough of this man and his disrespect. His disrespect for her, for her traditions, for medicine and even for history. She was <em>sick</em> of him.</p><p>“One,” she said as she let him drop.</p><p>It was a second too late when she realized what she’d just done. She waved her wand, about to catch him again—but in a second when her mind seemed to speed, Diana understood she wouldn’t be able to do it on time.</p><p>Then, right where Sean would have fallen and likely broken his legs or worse, a puff of smoke and a figure materialized. The man was caught by someone who grunted with effort as they did so, and a second later the smoke vanished.</p><p>Chariot had saved him.</p><p>“Y-you! Thank you…” Sean Douglas held on to Chariot for dear life, his grasping for breath. Then he looked at Artemis with real fear. “She-she’s nuts! Help me!”</p><p>Chariot eyed Artemis with intense anger and took out her wand. “You could have seriously hurt him!” she said.</p><p>Diana didn’t have an answer. Instead, she closed her eyes and tried to keep her emotions under control.</p><p>“I did what I deemed necessary to get the information I required,” she lied.</p><p>“Like hell you did!”</p><p>“Step aside, Chariot,” Artemis brandished her rapier. “That man still owes me an answer.”</p><p>“No,” she put Sean down and took her wand out. “You can’t win against me, and you know it.”</p><p>Artemis could feel frustration growing inside her. “You don’t want to mess with me. Out of respect for your craft and your past, I do not wish to harm you.”</p><p>“Step away from the man, Dia-”</p><p>The mere mention of her name was enough to trigger an instinctive reaction inside Artemis. With a flick of her wrist, she cast a spell around Chariot, putting her inside a bubble from which she could not escape. Her voice was completely muted inside of it as well.</p><p>“Zero,” Artemis finished, pointing her sword directly at Sean’s face and making it glow brightly.</p><p>“W-wait!” Sean crawled back, pressing himself against the wall. “U-under the desk! It’s under the desk! The combination is thirty, eighty-seven, twenty-one!” He spoke so fast that it was almost impossible to understand. “Please don’t hurt me!” he covered his face with his arms.</p><p>Artemis flourished the rapier and the desk went flying against the wall. Charito kept pounding on the bubble and attacking it with magic, but Artemis was, simply put, more skilled in advanced spells than her. She walked over to a rectangular cut on the floor. Under it, a safe with a digital lock stood. She input the numbers—three, zero, eight, seven, two, one—and it opened. It was deeper than it looked, and inside it, the Rod of Asclepius glowed lightly. It was a relatively plain staff, but a single snake had been carved around with life-like detail, to the point where one might consider if it wasn’t actually a real snake transformed into wood.</p><p>She took it and aimed up. Her grappling hook gun, recently installed by a tiny mechanic, shoot from the sleeve and into her hand. “Keep the suitcase.” She pointed at the young man. “That’s just a dummy. And don’t forget: Belief is the source of all magic,” Artemis said before pressing the trigger and shooting herself up to the skylight.</p><p>The night air hit her face as she jumped even further into the air while calling for her broom. She fell on top of it and surfed down to where people still stood inside the museum. She posed for a second in front of them, showing the fruits of her heist, and then moved on with cheers behind her.</p><p>All the while flying to the rendezvous point, she pointedly avoided thinking of what the hell had happened in there.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So, working back up the things I lost for this is gonna take me a while, since I've got to split the time with another project that also needs to be reworked back to the state it was before my hard drive died, so I'll drop this chapter in the meantime to not leave the fic in an absolutely barren state for another week or more. I'll probably drop the next chapter on February 11th at the latest even if I haven't worked up to the same point, just because the date is important to me for a multitude of reasons.<br/>Anyways, enjoy, and please leave a comment!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter 15</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Diana collapsed.</p><p>As soon as she hit the terrace of the skyscraper, her entire demeanor broke. She lost strength on her legs and fell, her breathing a mess as she tried to process what had just happened. She took off the outer layers of her Artemis outfit, which felt too tight, and instinctively curled into a ball.</p><p>She grasped for air. <em>I could have seriously harmed him. Or worse,</em> Diana thought. <em>I fought with Chariot. I…</em> she grabbed her head, trying to calm down. It was ineffective. She closed her eyes. <em>What was I doing? What came over me? </em>This wasn’t her. What the hell had happened?</p><p>She’d been so angry. She still was. She gritted her teeth. <em>So angry.</em> But that wasn’t an excuse. She’d gone over the line.</p><p>Someone landed on the roof behind her. Diana didn’t bother looking who it was, but the teacher’s voice was alarmed as it spoke. “Diana! Are you ok?” A hand rested on her back.</p><p>Diana couldn’t answer. She didn’t have the strength. She kept hyperventilating, barely aware of what surrounded her. “Diana,” Chariot continued. “Take a deep breath and release it slowly. You need to calm down.”</p><p>The blonde tried to speak, but any word came out as a mess of barely audible breath. <em>I can’t do this,</em> Diana thought. Whatever had happened back there wasn’t what she’d signed up for. What if she hurt someone seriously? She wouldn’t forgive herself.</p><p><em>Even though he deserved it?</em> A part of her asked. Diana hated knowing that she was tempted to give in to that temptation. <em>So what if I hurt a couple of scumbags? Sean hadn’t cared for anyone but himself, why should anyone care for him?</em></p><p>She felt her eyes tearing up at these thoughts. No. She couldn’t allow herself to think like that. Lines. There were lines she couldn’t cross; that was one of them. Why, then, had she almost…?</p><p>“What the hell is going on here?” Amanda was the next one to arrive, though Diana hadn’t even heard her.</p><p>“I’m not sure. She was acting strange, and now…” Chariot’s hand was no longer on her back. When had she taken it away?</p><p>“Diana, hey,” Amanda leaned next to Diana. Her vision was blurry, but she could see from the corner of her eye that Amana still wore her Shiny Artemis disguise. “Look at me,” Amanda insisted.</p><p>Diana tilted her head only slightly. Amanda looked worried, her face serious as she threw away the hat and wig and released her head from the net that held it.</p><p>“There,” Amanda put a hand on her back, rubbing it. “I’m not sure what happened, but it’s gonna be fine. Did you fail to take the rod?” Diana closed her eyes again, which caused some of the tears welled up there to fall. She shook her head, still unable to muster any words. “Hey, come here,” Amanda’s arm surrounded Diana, pulling her into a hug. “It’s alright. It’s gonna be alright. Take it easy.”</p><p>Diana froze. Amanda smelled like fresh laundry. Her disguise was brand new, after all. She was warm and calming, and despite the uncomfortable position she was in, she didn’t move.</p><p>Slowly, Diana managed to calm down. She’d never realized how soothing a hug could be. She cried a couple of tears, but she held back from exploding. After a couple of minutes, she was breathing mostly normally and she managed to stand up, getting away from Amanda’s hug.</p><p>The redhead stood after her and smiled. “Feeling better?”</p><p>Diana nodded. “Thank you,” her mouth was as dry as a desert, and her voice sounded hoarse. She wiped the tears from her face and something tugged at her feet. She looked down, the little fairy was patting her feet in a consolatory gesture. Diana picked her bottle from the discarded ribbon and knelt. “Thank you, little one,” Diana said to it.</p><p>The fairy nodded and slipped inside the bottle.</p><p>“Can I be privy as to what happened?” Amanda asked Chariot.</p><p>“To be honest,” Chariot looked at Diana. “I would like to know the answer to that too. What happened back there, Diana?”</p><p>Diana took a deep breath and calmed her thoughts. “I… Don’t know. I was so <em>angry.</em>” She shook her head. She explained, quickly, what had gone down. “I swear I didn’t want to hurt him… I think,” she then looked at the teacher, ashamed. “Excuse my behavior. I’m not sure what came over me.”</p><p>Chariot stepped forward, worried. “Diana, doing a performance can be extremely stressful. Self-control is important in the stage; I can’t even fathom how much more it is for something like this.”</p><p>Stress. Maybe that was it. Everything related to Sean had pissed her off. Plus almost being caught, and the stress of the moment…</p><p>“Hey, no-one got harmed, right? That’s all that matters. And you got the rod, so it’s all perfect,” Amanda said in a cheerful tone. “No need to beat yourself up over it.”</p><p>Diana wasn’t so sure about that, but she understood she couldn’t stay curled into a ball all night.</p><p>“Thank again,” she shook her head, steadying her breath with all the effort she could muster. “I’ll be better in a while. Let’s wait for Hannah and Barbara and get out of here.”</p><p>Chariot patted Diana’s shoulder. “Take a break, Diana. For your own good.”</p><p>Diana nodded. She’d been thinking about taking a break—from stealing only, though. The big mistake she’d made at the Treasury still weighed on her mind. She needed to be able to do things without the aid of magic. Maybe she’d take a couple months; wait until winter break was over and get back to business then. IN the meantime, she’d train.</p><p>It was still a maybe, but after this, the idea was far more appealing than before.</p><p>“I’ll see you in school. Take care,” Chariot jumped off the building and flew away on her broom. Diana sat down and sighed, still queasy due to the breakdown.</p><p>Amanda sat next to her. Despite her smile, some worry slipped through the cracks. “I wish I could’ve seen his face,” she said. “He looked really stupid, I’d bet.”</p><p>Diana tried to make memory. The man had looked terrified. “It wasn’t pretty. He really was scared,” she shook her head. “Artemis will be known as a psycho after today.”</p><p>“Maybe that’s for the best,” Amanda said. “It’ll stop others from acting like that fucker did.”</p><p>“Maybe…” Diana wasn’t convinced, but she appreciated Amanda’s attempt at making her feel better nonetheless.</p><p>Sadly, it didn’t work. And despite her best efforts, Diana couldn’t snap out of her gloomy mood before Hannah and Barbara arrived.</p><p>Together, they parted for Luna Nova. Diana should have felt satisfaction for having pulled off the job. Instead, she felt remorse. There were many things she needed to think about. But in the meantime… In the meantime, she just needed to focus on reaching Luna Nova and going to sleep.</p><p>Tomorrow would be a new day.</p><p> </p><p>Diana woke up feeling alright.</p><p>She didn’t feel like she was on the verge of a panic attack, which was more than she could say for herself yesterday. Sundays were interesting for her. It was a day of relaxation for everyone else, but in a way, they were just a different kind of busy for Diana. She took her time to do research on topics she found interesting, or to help with problems around the school. Most recently, she’d spent them either planning a heist or carrying it out some way or another.</p><p>Today, though, she would take it easy. If anything, because doing anything related to heists right now would put her in a frame of mind she needed to get away from right now.</p><p>She guided herself through the hallways of Luna Nova, leaving behind her still asleep teammates. It was early—six thirty—but the kitchens should already be at work. She stepped inside them, to the fairy worker’s surprise. One of them offered her some leftovers from last night as breakfast, and Diana accepted them. She ate quickly and washed her dishes before turning and, for the first time in… well, quite a while, she went outside to take a walk through the woods.</p><p>The world was covered with a light mist that made the forest look eerie. It helped Diana pretend she was away from everything: Her life, her duties. She thought. She tried to avoid thinking about last night, but that came in too. Her actions, fueled by rage and frustration. And not all of it was born out of Sean Douglas. Diana was angry at many aspects of her life. Her responsibilities and inability to feel like she was making true progress towards her goals a big part of it. But that wasn’t all of it: She still felt too stiff despite her efforts. How could she hope others wouldn’t put her on a pedestal if she acted like a walking statue?</p><p>Anger at her friends for shoving themselves into this phantom thief business despite her complaints, too. Independent of whether Diana could do it alone or not, she still resented them somewhat.</p><p>Was it just a need to feel in control? She didn’t want to think that; she really wished to believe she was looking after the safety of those she cared about. Could it be both? Could she care <em>and</em> be prideful at the same time?</p><p>Hannah and Barbara, who would follow her to the ends of the earth. Amanda, who just wanted to have fun. Constanze, who made her tools. Chariot, who could get in serious legal trouble if Diana was found out. Even others like Jasminka, Sucy or Lotte, who knew of Diana’s identity as Artemis and said nothing.</p><p>All of them put at risk for Diana. It scared her. It angered her.</p><p>Or maybe she was angry at herself. For not seeing a better way out; for ever accepting they’d come with.</p><p>By the time she took a break from the walk, the mist had evaporated. Diana looked around her, the green forest lit by sunbeams in patches, a beautiful sight she didn’t often get to appreciate due to her business-filled life. She, too, realized she was lost. It didn’t make her nervous—with her wand, she could find the way home at any moment without a problem. But she did find it curious. Just how distracted had she been? It was possible she’d even crossed over to the Arcturus forest at some point. Nowadays it wasn’t as dangerous as it had once been.</p><p>She reached for her wand, but then paused. The walk back home would take her a while anyways. Why not stay here for a while and rest? The weather was nice, she may as well take advantage of it.</p><p>Diana sat down on the still moist grass and took a deep breath. She let the cool breeze wash over her, let the sunshine hit her in spots that warmed up and helped her feel cozy. The sky was mostly blue, save for a few stray clouds that drifted lazily across it.</p><p>What about her school life? While she focused on stealing, she wasn’t intent on letting her studies go. But her friends, her reputation at school? And of course, Akko. Diana wondered how she’d react to the news of what Artemis had done last night. Maybe she’d finally lose that admiration.</p><p>What about Chariot? She’d seen Diana back there. Despite her kind words, some resentment had to remain. What if he decided Diana wasn’t fit for this and threatened to give her up to the authorities unless she quit? Maybe that’d be for the best.</p><p>Sighing, she laid on her back, not caring about the humidity or how the grass could stain her uniform. Amanda did have a point when she said not being a worrywart all the time could be relaxing. Amanda… she’d really helped her, last night. Diana didn’t know she had it in her. Her mind circled back to the conversation in the hotel room. <em>‘You always act according to who you want to be’. </em> True or not, there was a problem with that statement: <em>Who</em> did Diana want to be?</p><p>The next head of the Cavendish family? The best witch in the world? How far did she want to go? Every time she spoke with others, they all expected great things of her—but who had a clear idea of what that was? An expert medic? A politician? Founder of a powerful witch Coven? All of them?</p><p>What a time to have an identity crisis.</p><p>Diana closed her eyes, letting the sound of the rusting leaves lull her into a half-sleep state. Her mind seemed to expand as she entered a dream-like state, only half aware of the outside world. Her thoughts seemed to take on shapes and forms as they crossed her mind, and she finally pictured herself. Who <em>was</em> she?</p><p>Diana Cavendish, witch of the century? Shiny Artemis, the phantom thief? It felt silly to ever consider it, but why did it have such a strong presence in her mind? And there was also a third option: Diana Cavendish. No titles attached, no expectations placed on her. If she removed those, would she find her true self?</p><p>What was there, at her core? At the center of her being, where everything that made <em>her</em> congregated. Was it memories and experiences? Was it hopes and dreams? A mix of them? Finding oneself, a task as old as time, assigned to every human—and yet only a few illuminated geniuses had ever claimed to find the answer, and it had taken them nearly their entire lives. Diana had seventeen years. She was even more full of herself than Amanda claimed if she thought she’d manage to find the answer at such a young age. The experience of age had already been proven to her when she met Errol. Adults weren’t always right; but they did tend to be wiser and better rounded-up people.</p><p>Her image split in two. Her normal self, with her Luna Nova uniform. Her thief self, with the Shiny Artemis attire. There was something irreconcilable between the two, some key factor Diana had yet to figure out. The morality? The danger? Whatever it was, something told Diana it was also what sparked that outburst last night.</p><p>Maybe it was a problem of ideals. Diana was trying to find an ideal version of herself, an in that version Artemis didn’t exist. Was she, then, trying to release all of that through that persona? Being Artemis felt freeing in a way being Diana never had. The trill, the challenge. As Artemis, she came <em>alive.</em> Her daily life had become dull, save for counted occasions—such as helping Akko. There was never a dull moment with the brunette.</p><p>Akko. Why did her thoughts always go back to her? She liked her, that much she knew. But what if it was something else? Was it admiration? Was it respect? Or what if she just liked her as a really good friend and was mistaking the intent of her own feelings?</p><p>Holding hands. Kissing. All of that was alien to Diana. She tried to imagine doing so with the brunette, but it only made her feel silly. Plus, what about Akko’s feelings? Everyone seemed so sure that Akko would like her back, but Diana wasn’t so sure. Akko was so… well, Akko. How could anyone expect to read her?</p><p>What if Akko liked someone else? She admired Chariot, she loved to hang out with Amanda, and she constantly told her teammates how much she loved them too. What did Diana above that? Helping her save magic in the last second? Being her tutor?</p><p>There was nothing Diana could see that would make her a better partner than anyone else.</p><p>She could imagine, though, Hannah and Barbara chastising her for being insecure. They’d speak about how great she was, list her qualities one by one and then say that for anyone to not like Diana they’d have to be crazy.</p><p>Amanda would just mock her and tell her to go confess. Maybe Diana should talk about it with someone else. Lotte or Sucy? She wasn’t too close with them. Who else had a good idea of who Akko was? Sarah, maybe? Akko had good relationships with a number of people.</p><p>Diana opened her eyes and sighed, looking at the sky through the canopy of leaves. So much pondering could be tiring, but at least she felt better. Maybe she’d confess just to get Akko out of her head—or would it only make things worse?</p><p>She stood and stretched. Given the position of the sun, she figured she’d been lying there for half an hour. She took out her wand, but paused. It was nearly impossible for her to have walked so far away that she couldn’t see New Moon Tower from here. She just needed to climb a tree. What if she did so? She needed to train physically. And she was an expert at medicinal magic, if she hurt herself she could always use a healing spell. Unless she fell unconscious, but what were the chances of her messing up so badly?</p><p>After some deliberation, she used magic to turn her skirt into pants and tried climbing a tree.</p><p>It was easier than she’d expected at first. Step on a branch here, grab on to another one there. But as branches thinned and more stuff hit her face or got caught in her hair, she started to see she’d underestimated the task.</p><p>She kept going. The three was maybe five meters tall—if she could just peek over the canopy, she’d be able to see New Moon Tower and pick the right direction back home. She was aware that a part of her just wanted to do this because no-one was around, because she could let loose a little and be silly and waste some extra time.</p><p>It took her some trial and error, but she managed to climb to a good height without breaking her legs, which she considered an accomplishment. With the view still blocked with leaves, though, Diana cheated a little by moving them around with magic to be able to look around.</p><p><em>There it is,</em> Diana thought when she spotted it. <em>Now, let’s get back down.</em></p><p>It should be easy, right? Only do what you did on the way up, but in reverse.</p><p>But going down was much harder than she’d envisioned. Without a clear view downwards, every step she took felt precarious, and it all felt so much more slippery. She did slip a couple of times, managing to catch herself just in time to not fall.</p><p>Taking her double the time that it had taken her to go up, she finally set a foot on the ground and exhaled, sitting down to take a breather. Then she chuckled to herself. That had been unnecessary, risky, and a waste of time—maybe Akko and Amanda had rubbed the wrong way on her.</p><p>The most interesting part was that she didn’t mind.</p><p>She stood, taking a deep breath. Time to go back. With a spell, she cleaned herself, and then set on her way.</p><p> </p><p>When she was close to Luna Nova, she noticed some unusual movement outside. Students going around and walking in and out of the forest.</p><p>Before she could figure out what was off, though, she heard someone cry out. “Dianaaaa?!”</p><p><em>Maybe I was gone for too long,</em> she realized. Hurrying her step, she walked towards the origin of the cry. She found one of her classmates, who yelped when she came out of the trees and then sighed in relief. She shot a light of magic into the air.</p><p>Five minutes later, Diana was surrounded by worried students, and a small group made way through the crowd. The group included her teammates, Amanda, and Akko. “Diana!” They cried almost in unison. Hannah and Barbara rushed her checking to see if she was hurt.</p><p>“We were worried!” Barbara said. “You were gone all day!”</p><p>“The hell were you?” Amanda asked.</p><p>“Taking a walk,” Diana looked up. She <em>had</em> been gone roughly six hours. “Sorry to worry you, I needed some time alone.”</p><p>Akko sighed, relieved. “See? I told you she’d be fine, she’s Diana!” she claimed.</p><p>Amanda ignored her. “Are you ok?” she raised an eyebrow. The question was charged with something else. <em>Of course. The last thing they knew of me was my breakdown. </em>It made sense she’d worry them.</p><p>Diana smiled, surprisingly not ashamed to find all of these people cared about her. “I’m alright, I promise. The forest is quite beautiful during mornings. I just got a bit lost in my thoughts.”</p><p>“Next time,” Hannah put a hand on her shoulder, “please tell us if you’re gonna disappear.”</p><p>The crowd of students began to disperse, and Diana walked inside the school. It was right around lunch time, and there was a bit of a cheer for her when she stepped into the cafeteria. Part of Diana assumed it was because she’d been found, but then she quickly realized those who had cheered wore ribbon pins. They were celebrating her heist.</p><p>She ignored them, and the dark thoughts that seemed to creep their way into her brain again at the memory of it. Soon, Diana found herself in a communal table where the blue, red and green teams sat together.</p><p>“So, Diana…” Akko asked towards the blonde. “Uhm… Shiny Artemis stole the same auction you went to, right?”</p><p>Diana hesitated for a moment before answering. “Yes. But if you’re planning to ask me how she is, you’ll waste your effort. I only got a glimpse of her.”</p><p>“Oh,” Akko pouted. “I wish I could get some better account from someone who’s actually seen her.”</p><p>“This is getting old,” Amanda said, looking at Diana.</p><p>“Well if you don’t like me talking about Artemis,” Akko got defensive, “you can suggest a more interesting conversation topic!” she stuck her tongue out.</p><p>Amanda was about to reply, but Diana interrupted. “I have one. Have you girls studied for the text this Friday?”</p><p>This earned her a few worried looks from the brunette, Amanda and even Hannah and Barbara.</p><p>“If you wish,” Diana said, “I can help you with whatever you need,” she looked at Akko and Amanda specifically. “You two most of all.”</p><p>Akko nodded eagerly, while Amanda shrugged while giving a noncommittal answer.</p><p>The topic of conversation was changed successfully, and Diana breathed, relieved that she didn’t have to deal with Artemis anymore, at least for today.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>End of Part One.</strong>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And so, we're back—for this chapter, at least. Still working on other stuff before continuing with this one. <br/>February 11th, as I said, is an important date to me for many reasons which I'll keep to myself. <br/>Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Be gay, do crimes! And by crimes I mean leave a comment!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Interlude: Akko</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Akko read the accounts of Shiny Artemis’s last heist with interest.</p>
<p>Apparently, the man who had ‘won’ the auction had been the thief in disguise. She’d invoked a dummy after changing in the office of the museum up to distract the guards for a moment, but she had no time to pull the theft before she had to make her escape.</p>
<p>Or so they thought. A few minutes later, Artemis jumped back into the building, threatened the owner—he claimed he almost died and was saved by Chariot, but Akko was sure he was just exaggerating—and got away with the stolen item, a powerful healing staff or something like that.</p>
<p>The mystery, though, was that Artemis had also been in pursuit at that very moment, according to the authorities. So what was going on? Could it have been Artemis’s mysterious friend, the one who saved her a few days prior to the heist? Was it a clone?</p>
<p>Akko tried to think of it, but came to no conclusions. Artemis was a mystery and she would likely always remain as such, so there was no point in stressing over it. A magician, she’d called herself. Tricking and confusing was part of the act; making people wonder how she’d pulled a heist under their noses her job.</p>
<p>There was also that rumor about her being able to do magic even inside anti-magic fields. While all cases in which she’d done so <em>could</em> be later explained, the thief’s own claims that such magic couldn’t stop her still caused some interest on her abilities. Was she that strong magically? Did she have some magical item that protected her from it? Rumors were rumors, so information on the topic was lacking at best, but Akko wouldn’t be surprised to find Artemis <em>was</em> in fact immune to such things.</p>
<p>“You should be studying,” Sucy said from her bed. Akko looked up from the desk, turning to her teammate. “And no, Shiny Artemis doesn’t count as a Witch of renown to base your essay on.”</p>
<p>Akko paused, shocked. “What do you mean?!”</p>
<p>“Famous and Renown aren’t the same thing. You could pick Chariot, I guess, but not Artemis.”</p>
<p>Crossing her arms, Akko hummed. “I don’t like that.”</p>
<p>Sucy raised an eyebrow. “You don’t like Chariot?”</p>
<p>“I mean, not being able to pick Artemis! Plus, I’ve already done like three essays on Chariot, Miss Finnelan’s not gonna accept more, especially now that Chariot is right there and it’d probably be cheating…”</p>
<p>Sucy sighed, putting away the blades of different kinds of grass she was braiding together for some concoction. “There’s a lot of witches in the world, Akko. I’m sure one of them can catch your attention.”</p>
<p>“but they’re all boriiing,” the brunette turned to the article about Artemis. “I mean, come on! Artemis uses magic and tricks to steal from highly secured places! How can I not try to make an essay about her?”</p>
<p>Sucy deadpanned. “Akko, you know nothing about her. What are you gonna do? Describe her outfit and what she’s stolen?”</p>
<p>With a start, Akko realized Sucy was right. “Shoot.” But an idea sprung into her mind. “But what if…”</p>
<p>“I don’t like the expression you’re making, so I’m gonna leave before you come up with something outrageous,” Sucy said, standing and walking to the door.</p>
<p>Akko stood, grabbing her by the shoulders, oblivious to what her teammate had said. “I just need to interview her!” She yelled in Sucy’s face.</p>
<p>“And how, exactly, do you plan to do that?” Sucy replied with resignation.</p>
<p>“Well…” Akko let go of her, turning to look out the window. “I don’t have any magical items she might want to steal, so to get her attention, maybe I should…” she trailed off. “Oh, I know! I’ll contact her online!”</p>
<p>“Great idea. Just add her on facebook, I’m sure she’ll be eager to talk with you.”</p>
<p>Akko gave her a flat look. “I mean, I’ll leave a post in some big forum, maybe she’ll see it. There’s this big Artemis discussion site, too. Or I could try to pay a newspaper for a small article? Something like that.”</p>
<p>Sucy didn’t look convinced, but she shrugged and ignored Akko.</p>
<p>“Yeah…” Akko took her Crystal Ball and began searching. “I’ll ask her why she steals, and what she plans to steal next!” she said excitedly.</p>
<p>Her teammate shook her head, sitting back on her bed and going back to the braiding of herbs. “I’m sure she’ll answer all of your questions eagerly,” she said with a fair amount of sarcasm.</p>
<p>“You really think so?” Akko turned, eyes bright.</p>
<p>Sucy rolled her eyes. “Yeah, sure. Now please, let me continue with this in peace,” she said, looking down.</p>
<p>Smiling, Akko began to look into what the best way to contact Artemis could be.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And we're back in business! I've had a really shit month, and especially this last week I've been obsessively playing Blasphemous, which is definitely some sort of coping mechanism because I don't even like the game that much.<br/>Anyways, I've gotten back to the point before my hard drive died.<br/>Remember when I said this was going to be a Diana-only POV fic? Yeah... I decided to cheat a bit. Sorry about that. I took some inspiration from Brandon Sanderson and caught a bit of a break to do short chapters from other characters' perspectives.<br/>That being said, sorry the return chapter is a short one. The following ones are shorter too, but this was likethat even before the un-planned hiatus so yeah.</p>
<p>Hope you enjoy!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Interlude: Jasminka</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jasminka stood very still as Constanze put around her a piece of fabric she’d been creating with the purpose of upgrading Shiny Artemis’s outfit. While she’d been unable to do it on her own, after recruiting the help of someone with more expertise in the clothing field—that being Isabelle, who Jasminka considered to be the nicest girl in school—she’d finally gotten the breakthrough she’d so much wanted. It was good, too, that Diana had decided to take a break from thievery, letting Constanze take it a bit easier. Diana may never pressure her, but Jasminka’s teammate loved to push herself nonetheless.</p><p>After Constanze was done, Jasminka used her expansion spell to grow bigger and heavier, ending up in the shape of a ball. The spell required a certain amount of base matter to work, and she was the only one in their group who could perform it.</p><p>While the spell also included her clothing, she purposefully left out Constanze’s fabric, letting it expand on its own. And it did so: No breaks, no tears, it didn’t even feel too tight around Jasminka’s waist. After a few seconds, Constanze nodded and took notes, while waving for Jasminka to finish her spell.</p><p>After turning back to normal, the fabric went back to its original shape—but it looked stretched on the edges. Constanze looked at that with a frown, took the black piece of clothing and shook her head. Still not perfect.</p><p>As far as Jasminka understood, the clothes were meant to be weather and heat resistant, and maybe even protect the girls from the electric shock of tasers. A high standard, but one Jasminka knew Constanze would meet eventually. Few people were as driven in this world as the tiny mechanic, and that was something even the most clueless could see.</p><p>With Jasminka having done her part, she went over to the couch, where Amanda sat reading. Unusual, for the redhead, but the book on her hands was rather topical for her activities once this break was over. ‘The extraordinary adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Burglar’. Apparently, Diana had gifted her the book. It must have been interesting, for Amanda to look so invested in it.</p><p>As if reading Jasminka’s thoughts, Amanda pointed at the page she was currently reading. “Lupin is an asshole,” she explained, “but the kind of charismatic asshole you can’t help rooting for. He steals because he wants to and sometimes he does some good in the middle.”</p><p>Jasminka nodded, sitting next to her and grabbing a bag of snacks. The fairy inside her was growing restless already, even if it had only been a few minutes. She offered some to Amanda, but she refused, too immersed in her book.</p><p>It had been a while since the green team had all been together during an afternoon. Both Constanze and Amanda had their days filled with phantom-thief related activities now. Constanze with building stuff, and Amanda had a ton of stuff going on—combat training with Verochka, acting classes with Avery, Sleight of Hand and general stealth with Marianne and even acrobatics with Lin-Lin—which often left Jasminka to either watch them do their thing or hang out with someone else.</p><p>Jasminka didn’t mind this. She enjoyed watching her friends so invested in their projects, showing passion for their work. She was happy for them, even if she at times felt a bit left out. But that was one of the good things of being in a school where most people were nice: She could go out and spend some time with someone else too. Yesterday, she and Sarah had raided the kitchen in the night and Jasminka had baked a cake for them both. A few days ago, she’d spent an entire afternoon listening to Priscilla talk about all the gossip going around school.</p><p>Still, she did often wonder if she could somehow join in on the fun too. The red team wasn’t involved in the thievery stuff, but that was because Akko was blissfully unaware of the truth of it.</p><p>After a while, Amanda closed her book and stood. “I, uhm… have something to do.”</p><p>Jasminka smiled at her, knowing where she would go.</p><p>Constanze just gave a thumbs up, not bothering to turn around from her work.</p><p>“What’s with the smile?” The redhead asked.</p><p>Jasminka just ate another potato, saying nothing. Amanda had been going to Diana’s room along with Akko to get some help with her homework—but unlike Akko, she didn’t <em>need</em> help to do anything. She was as smart as anyone else, maybe even smarter. The only reason she wasn’t at the top of the class was not really caring about it.</p><p>So, why would the troublemaker go out of her way to get ‘help’ on her homework? Especially now that winter break was around the corner and she’d have two weeks to bother with it.</p><p>“Oh don’t you dare look at me like that,” Amanda said. “It’s not what you think.”</p><p>Jasminka kept smiling knowingly, and unable to win the argument against someone who barely spoke, Amanda just grunted, frustrated, and left. “It’s not what you think!” she screamed as she shot upwards towards the school in Constanze’s rocket chair.</p><p>Jasminka ate another potato, not losing her smile.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Another short one! Don't worry, the next interlude is the last, and then we're back to regular length chapters.<br/>Leave a comment if you enjoyed it!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Interlude: Alone</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Daryl dined alone.</p><p>With her daughters off in the city working, and the servants eating in a separate room, she had the big dining chamber all to herself. A steaming plate of soup and a bottle of wine were her only companions, and both of them would be consumed sooner rather than later.</p><p>She ate slowly, leaving her mind blank. If she focused too much on anything, feelings assaulted her—feelings she didn’t want to deal with in this peaceful night. Feelings of guilt and regret, of being a stranger in her own house.</p><p>But today had been an easy day. She hadn’t had any problems, and Anna was on her day off, which meant her judgmental—and disapproving—eyes were not there to remind Daryl of all of her mistakes. So she ate alone, enjoying the absolute silence around her, surprised at how good the soup tasted. A chicken and vegetables soup, lightly seasoned, a bit on the saltier side with some lemon thrown into it too. It complimented the chilly night, too.</p><p>She was tempted to call for the chef, just to compliment him, but the last time she’d done that she’d been able to tell how everyone looked at her. Who was she, the one who had nearly ran this family down into the ground, and who had treated all of them with little respect for so many years, to compliment anyone?</p><p>When Diana came to the mansion, everything was livelier. Servants seemed to enjoy Diana’s presence. She’d always treated them with respect, and for the new ones, she had been the one to hire them. They respected her as they would Bernadette in the past.</p><p>In other times, Daryl would have been angered by the thought. Now she realized how awful she’d been.</p><p>When she finished eating, she walked through the mostly empty hallways of the mansion towards her chambers. A white snake joined her at some point; her familiar coming to comfort her, as it could feel her sour mood. A mood she wore no matter what, nowadays.</p><p>Her chambers were the biggest of the mansion. Inside, there were only three pieces of furniture: A king-sized bed, a massive closet, and a desk next to the bed. Everything else she’d moved to other places; she didn’t deserve to have all of that anymore. Rather, she’d never deserved to have it in the first place.</p><p>With a sigh, she sat on the bed. Winter break was about to end at Luna Nova, and Diana had only visited once. She preferred to stay away from this place… or from Daryl.</p><p>Her snake rubbed her head against Daryl’s cheek. She was so much smarter than other snakes, as was usually the case for familiars. Like Daryl, the snake felt lonely, now that Maril’s and Merrill’s snakes were gone too. Daryl scratched her diamond-shaped head and started to get changed for bed.</p><p>She noticed, however, something new on her desk: A letter. Not too surprising, servants rarely interacted with her directly, so she was used to things being left for her to find later. She opened the envelope, which lacked a sender. That meant it was from Diana and related to Shiny Artemis.</p><p><em>A castle, huh?</em> Daryl looked at the details Diana laid out for what was to be her first heist after winter break ended. She was to steal the First Cavendish Wand, a name given to the first wand that had been created exclusively for their family, gifted to Sherey Cavendish, Beatrix’s granddaughter—or was it grand-granddaughter?—by a craftsman.</p><p>Daryl finished up reading the letter and took a deep breath. Now begun what was to be her part in this whole ordeal: Research. If there was one thing she’d been good at during her life, that was sucking up to those with more resources than her. With the right pull of strings, she could get any information in relation to the magical world she wished to. And she was subtle enough that no-one ever found her and Artemis’s connection, even if they had been under close scrutiny up until Diana’s last heist.</p><p>Putting the letter down, Daryl picked a paper and made sure to write down a reminder on what she needed to do as soon as she woke up.</p><p>Then, she turned off the lights of her room and got on her bed, ready to sleep.</p><p>Just another day in the long string of weeks and months that had become her life. Maybe one day it’d get better, but she didn’t count on it. She didn’t deserve it, after all.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And another short chapter, the last one! After this begins act 2. What wonders await beyond? Who knows!<br/>Writing Daryl as I did is a bit complex. She's a character most hate, including myself, but at the end of the show it is implied she's changed—but it doesn't quite feel like she's been redeemed or even forgiven in any way. So here I am, making an angsty chapter for her. Funny, eh?<br/>Anyways, hope it isn't too annoying.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Chapter 19</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Diana stood at the top of New Moon Tower, looking down at Luna Nova, every piece of her mind questioning the decision she’d taken. This could go so wrong in so many ways that it wasn’t a stretch to say that she may have gone insane. As lights turned off, signaling students getting ready to sleep, Diana took a step off the edge and let herself fall, plummeting towards the ground.</p><p>As she did so, Artemis’s broom came to her. She took it and stopped her fall slowly, guiding herself towards the school, where a girl would be watching the stupid maneuver from the roof.</p><p>Why had she replied to Akko’s stupid request? Amanda had insisted she should, but she was risking <em>everything</em> by doing this. If people saw Artemis at Luna Nova, all the work gone into tricking the authorities during the Olde Nine Treasury heist would have been a waste.</p><p>Yet, Diana knew she couldn’t keep this the same as it was. All winter break she, Akko and Amanda had shared afternoons studying, which meant ample opportunity for Akko to speak about Artemis as if she were her new idol.</p><p>Maybe she was. That possibility made Diana far too uncomfortable.</p><p>Hopefully, all problems would be solved tonight.</p><p>She hit Luna Nova’s roof with grace, her attire protecting her from the cold night. It didn’t take long for a brunette to approach from the shadows, a wide smile on her face reflecting the moonlight. “You actually came!” She exclaimed in a whisper, running towards Diana.</p><p>Diana raised her rapier, keeping Akko at a distance. Her face was hidden in shadows and, at least for now, she planned to keep it that way. “Atsuko Kagari, savior of magic, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Diana said with a respectful nod, her voice slightly modified with magic.</p><p>Akko smiled and scratched the back of her head nervously. “Oh, that’s too fancy for me. Just call me Akko!”</p><p>Diana felt a bit of a Déjà vu. “Alright, Akko. You stated in your message online that you wished to meet me. As your accomplishments have been greatly influential in my endeavors, I saw fit to heed your call and present myself to you,” she lowered the rapier, though she didn’t change her posture. “What is it you want to ask of me?”</p><p>“Oh, there’s so much!” Akko said, excited. Diana was still debating whether she should reveal herself or not. If she didn’t, it was her intention to stop Akko from acting as a fan. How she’d do that, though, she wasn’t sure. “I guess I’d first ask: Why do you do this? Stealing, I mean,” she explained.</p><p>“That isn’t something I can answer,” Diana replied. Any information on that could give Akko a clue, and she’d rather not lie.</p><p>Akko nodded without a hint of disappointment. “I guessed you wouldn’t, which is why I prepared the next question! Why do you steal like a phantom thief?”</p><p>Diana paused. Akko had thought about this more than she’d expected. “To send a message,” Diana explained. “None of my targets is safe from me, and I want to make that clear.”</p><p>Akko nodded. “Hmm… What’s your next target?”</p><p>“Do you truly expect me to answer that?”</p><p>“Guess not,” Akko shrugged. “Oh, I know. How old are you?”</p><p>“I fail to see how that’s relevant.” Akko was trying to figure stuff out about Diana. Given how obsessed she’d once been about Chariot, she was not about to give any bit of information more than needed.</p><p>Akko pouted. “You’re not going to give me any sort of information about yourself, huh?” she crossed her arms. “Uhm… Oh, I know! That other woman who saved you… the Witch Knight cosplayer, is she your friend?”</p><p>Diana sighed. Se supposed that wasn’t information too relevant, as most people supposed they were. “You could say that.”</p><p>Akko’s expression shifted, she smirked. “Is she something <em>more</em> than a friend?”</p><p>The question caught Diana off-guard. Why was every damn teenager on the planet so obsessed over the nature of relationships? “Why the question?” Diana decided to counter-attack. “Would you happen to feel jealousy?”</p><p>It was Akko’s turn to be caught off-guard, and she didn’t bother trying to hide her shock at the question. After opening and closing her mouth a couple times, she licked her lips and spoke, “I-I mean, I think you’re cool and all, but…” she chuckled nervously.</p><p>While partly disappointed, an even bigger part of Diana was relieved. “Worry not,” she made a dismissive gesture. “I understand the nature of your admiration. I was merely jesting.”</p><p>“Oh, cool,” Akko sighed in relief. “But… what’s the answer to the question, then?” she once again directed a knowing look at Diana.</p><p>“I apologize for disappointing you, but there’s no deeper connection between the Knight and me.”</p><p>“Hmm… Well, it’s not like I expected you to admit it even if you were together,” she smiled at something unsaid, which Diana found more annoying than she was willing to admit. “But if you’re not gonna answer anything personal, well… I’m not sure I have any more questions which you can answer. Save for one,” she lifted a finger. “Did you really, uhm, try to kill Sean Douglas? He claims you did, but…”</p><p>“Yes,” Diana said. She still didn’t know how true that was but it was partly correct. She’d definitely thought about it.</p><p>Akko paused. “W-what?” Her expression, shocked, made Diana cringe internally. She had prepared for this possibility, but it didn’t make it any easier.</p><p><em>Guess I’m taking this path,</em> <em>then.</em> “He was a bad person, one who wished to profit off an item which could be the answer to a number of current problems in the world. He acted arrogantly in my face and tried to trick me multiple times. I lost my patience.”</p><p>“B-but…” Akko took a step back. “Y-you’re supposed to be a good person.”</p><p>“No,” Diana turned. “I’m a thief. A criminal,” she shook her head. “Those who admire me are foolish.” Saying those words was harder than she expected. Holding back a sigh, Diana stepped away from the shocked brunette. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Akko. For your sake, I hope we never meet again.”</p><p>With that said, she jumped on top of her waiting broom.</p><p>“W-wait!” Akko snapped out of her shock, making Diana pause. “It… It was like, a one off thing, right? It’s not like you would do it again. Sean wasn’t hurt in the end, so…”</p><p>“I can’t make any promises. I am not a good person, and I don’t pretend to be,” Diana said. Without giving Akko time to ask anything else, she flew away, the cold air of the night numbing her face as she tried to figure out why she felt so disappointed at how that exchange had ended up going.</p><p> </p><p>The following Sunday was the last of winter break. Christmas had passed, a new year had started, and the world should have been full of hope and happiness.</p><p>In Diana’s room, however, there were three very depressed girls.</p><p>Amanda, who lamented the end of the vacation time. Akko, who was still shocked by that night’s exchange. And Diana wasn’t feeling any better about it either.</p><p>In silence they studied. Or so Diana assumed, as she lacked the energy to check on Amanda and Akko. Her brain power was going into her own studies, especially now that she was about to go back to thievery. Her next target was an ‘easy’ one. She’d take Amanda, Hannah and Barbara with her to let them see how she did heists before, and then they’d get a proper debut on whatever happened to be next.</p><p>It would be lie, though, to say she wasn’t feeling slightly unmotivated. Despite her best attempts, she wasn’t able to forget about that exchange with Akko, and how hurt the brunette had looked. Should she have hidden the truth? Or maybe she should’ve been a bit more obtuse in her answer?</p><p>“Alright, that’s it!” Amanda closed her book with a sonorous thump and stood up. “I’m done for today. It’s my last day of freedom, I’m not wasting a single extra second studying.”</p><p>“Believing it’s a ‘waste’ in the first place is-” Diana started.</p><p>“Shut up, nerd,” Amanda stuck her tongue out. “Come on Akko, let’s get the hell out of here.”</p><p>Akko looked up. She stared at Diana, then at Amanda, and after a second she stood. “Yeah. Uhm… I’m not really feeling too well. I’ll come back tomorrow, if that’s ok.”</p><p>Diana sighed. “Alright. None of us are in the mood for this today, it seems. Do try to finish up whatever you have left before tomorrow, though.”</p><p>“Yeah, yeah,” Amanda shrugged and walked away. Akko followed, and a second later, Diana was left all alone.</p><p>For about five seconds, before Amanda entered the room again and blocked the door behind her.</p><p>“Aight, I got Akko out of the way,” she walked to the couch and plopped down without pause. “Now tell me what the hell happened.”</p><p>Diana blinked. “Why am I not surprised?” She asked. Amanda understood it was a rhetorical question, so she didn’t bother answering.</p><p>Trying to hide what occurred would only lead to Amanda asking Akko, and Diana would rather not have that. After sitting across from Amanda and serving some tea, she told Amanda what happened in the meeting. When she was done, Amanda had been deadpanning for a full minute.</p><p>“You sabotaged yourself, and on purpose,” she shook her head with disappointment.</p><p>“I…” Diana wanted to deny it, but she couldn’t. “I did, I guess,” she looked down. “I’m not sure what came over me. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to reveal myself or not, but that wasn’t how I wanted Akko to stop being a fan.”</p><p>Amanda hummed, thinking. “Well, you can still charm her as your regular old self. Want me to be a wingman?”</p><p>Diana shook her head. “No, Amanda,” she looked up. “No. That’s… not going to work out. I won’t lie to Akko. If we dated, she’d have to know who I am. And given her reaction to my actions, I don’t think she’d like to be with me any more than she’d wish to keep supporting Artemis.”</p><p>Amanda frowned. “Diana, it was a slip of judgement. You can’t punish yourself so much for something that had no bigger repercussions.”</p><p>“It’s not about punishment,” Diana closed her eyes. Whether she liked Akko or not was irrelevant. She’d chosen a path where Akko couldn’t follow her. “It’s about practicality.”</p><p>“You’re lying to yourself,” Amanda sounded hesitant. “If you don’t even try it, you’ll regret it.”</p><p>Shaking her head, Diana looked at Amanda once more. “Even if you were right, I’m done with doubts. I burnt that bridge, and I don’t plan on jumping back.”</p><p>The redhead pressed her lips. “I… guess there’s nothing else I can tell you.” Then she smirked. “For now, at least. As they say, there’s plenty of fish in the sea.”</p><p>“I don’t think I’ll start a relationship anytime soon, but thanks for the offer,” Diana said. Standing, she drank the last of her tea and levitated the entire set to the table near the bathroom door. “So… If there’s nothing else to discuss, what about finishing up that homework?”</p><p>Amanda laughed and stood. “Not gonna happen. Wanna come down to the cafeteria with me?”</p><p>“I could use a break,” Diana nodded.</p><p>As they left her room, Diana realized how… light she felt. The situation with Akko had truly been weighing down on her. Yet now, even if it wasn’t the most desirable outcome, she knew she’d made the right decision. One way or another, that had to end.</p><p>She just hoped she wouldn’t regret it nearly as much as Amanda predicted.</p><p> </p><p>“Here’s our next target,” Diana said that same night in Constanze’s workshop. She pointed at a blackboard with her wand, highlighting a copied blueprint of the castle she’d infiltrate.</p><p>“You mean <em>your</em> next target. We’re just supposed to sit back and watch,” Amanda said, not without bitterness.</p><p>“Don’t be like that, Diana just wants to show us how to do proper procedure,” Barbara chastised her.</p><p>“We were the reason she managed to pull the last heist off! We already know what we’re doing. I wanna wear my disguise and do cool poses too!”</p><p>Hannah rolled her eyes at this, while Barbara ignored her.</p><p>“I’m already planning another heist for the very near future, Amanda. You won’t have to wait too much, I assure you,” Diana said. “But for now, let’s focus.”</p><p>“Alright…” Amanda crossed her arms, clearly unhappy with this.</p><p>“We’re going to assault the Seighin castle,” Diana turned to the blueprints. “Owned by a big family of ex-witches and wizards, the castle is hidden from the common people by a powerful spell.”</p><p>“Like that tower we went to?” Amanda asked.</p><p>“Something like it,” she nodded. Then she pointed at the first level. “As you can see, it’s quite spacious, as it once held a family of hundreds. Now, however, the Seighin family is but a shadow of itself, with only two dozen members of it still in the castle, a third of which are spouses of proper Seighins. This means they can’t possibly guard it all by themselves. Luckily for us, they are also extremely private. Even if we send a calling card, they’re unlikely to ask for help from anyone. They only have one means of defense against Artemis: The current youngest member of the family.</p><p>“For at least three centuries now, they’ve only had one witch or wizard per generation, and there’s a single inexperienced wizard in the castle. The previous one died a few years ago, and Sven Seighin only has the task of maintaining the spell that hides the castle from the world. With no proper training, I doubt he’ll be a match for me, which is why I’ll be going in alone.”</p><p>“We could do it faster by going together, though,” Amanda pointed out.</p><p>“Not really. A bigger group means it’ll be harder to stay hidden. If I go by myself, I can enhance my recent training with magic and get in and out quickly, even casting invisibility for any hard situations.”</p><p>Amanda rolled her eyes.</p><p>Hannah raised a hand. “If we’re not going with you, do we really need to know the layout of the place?”</p><p>“Should something go wrong,” Diana pointed at the blueprints. “You will need to come in and help me. The treasure I’m after is The First Wand of Cavendish. It was the first ever wand crafted for a member of my-”</p><p>“Leave the history lesson for later, finish up the explanation,” Amanda interrupted.</p><p>Diana glared at her before continuing. “In any case, the wand is located at the top of the center tower of the castle. While its original purpose is lost in time, the family now uses it as a safe: It’s completely inaccessible from anywhere but below, so I’ll need to infiltrate the castle before going up and sneaking into the tower.”</p><p>“That means they just need to guard the stairs, doesn’t it?” Barbara asked.</p><p>“Correct,” Diana nodded. “But that’s not a problem, I’ll just make myself invisible during that section. The biggest problem will be opening the door to the safe. I’m not sure if the lock will be magical or not, but I assume it will be, so I’m going to need to find whatever spell they use to unlock it, as opening the physical lock will not be enough to open it.”</p><p>“Ah, so it’s really a treasure hunt for the key, not the item itself,” Hannah said. “Any ideas?”</p><p>“I assume the key will be in possession of the matriarch of the family, but I can’t be certain. I’ll do a bit more research on their family structure before making any claims. For now, though, I will task you will learning the layout of the castle.”</p><p>Amanda groaned, but Diana’s teammates nodded.</p><p>“And with that, this meeting is over.”</p><p>“I give it two stars out of five, too much talking,” Amanda stood, yawning.</p><p>“I sometimes wonder if you want or not to help out,” Diana shook her head.”</p><p>“I do, only you won’t let us,” she shrugged. “Anyways, give us those blueprints.”</p><p>There was something… off about her attitude. Still, she handed down the copied blueprints and said goodbye to Constanze, preparing mentally.</p><p>The first heist in two months. This was bound to be interesting.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And so we go back to regular length chapters. Timeskips are always fun, as they allow you to pull stuff like this without having to build up to them too much, which is a common problem for the likes of me as you may know if you've read any of my other works.<br/>Don't forget to comment!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Chapter 20</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Seighin castle came into view suddenly, as often happened when buildings were hidden with magic. A single step was all it took for the structure to appear as if from thin air. More wide than it was tall, the big block of stone was built with utility in mind before beauty. The windows were small, the roof was slanted and it had walkways with battalions to the sides, and the tower at the center of the structure was what caught one’s attention the most. Twice as tall as the castle itself, and all of its windows had been blocked up, now looking like a single chunk of stone.</p><p>They stopped at a small groove near a frozen pond behind the castle itself.</p><p>“I expected it to be… prettier,” Hannah commented.</p><p>“Not everyone feels the same need to make things visually attractive,” Diana said. “That being said, they <em>could</em> use white-washing on those walls.”</p><p>“Eh, I don’t know, I kinda like the roughness of it,” Amanda added.</p><p>The walk here from the nearest ley-line had taken them roughly half an hour, as Diana didn’t want them to risk being seen while on their brooms. The night was cold, the ground white with snow, and the sky was pitch-black, as clouds had covered it. Rain—or more snow—was likely to start at any moment, and they all agreed the sooner they finish this, the better.</p><p>However, there <em>had</em> been a bit of a change in plans. Contrary to Diana’s prediction, the family had asked for help against Artemis’s assault. Not to the police, or even magical authorities. They had asked for help directly from Luna Nova.</p><p>Tonight, Chariot would be waiting for Diana. They hadn’t talked about what had happened last time, but Diana suspected the teacher wasn’t going to go easy on her should she ever slip like that again. Not that she minded, as acting like that was not within her plans.</p><p>From here, Diana could see a few lights patrolling the rooftop. Just three, as far as she could tell. They were really spread out. “Alright, everyone ready. Go to your positions, I’m going in,” she ordered, waving her wand and dressing up as Artemis. ide, and no swarms of policemen going around in hard to re</p><p>Her companions did as told, going away under the veil of night, dressed in nothing but white, ninja-like clothes to hide them against the snow. Under normal circumstances, Diana would have spent a couple days watching the castle—but this time, she figured, she didn’t need it. No anti-magic fields, no experienced witches or wizards save for Chariot, who was on her s ad patrols.</p><p>Was she being overconfident? She hoped not.</p><p>She strolled into the night, rapier and broom held tightly, her suit now protecting her from the bitter cold. When she set a foot on the ice of the pond, she slid towards its center before jumping into the air and finally taking off on the broom.</p><p><em>“Showoff,” </em>Amanda said through their communicator.</p><p>She wasn’t wrong, Diana had no necessity to do that sort of stuff in this situation where no-one would see her. Even then, she figured she should stay in character.</p><p>From above the castle was a bit prettier, as most of it was covered with snow, which reflected the light of the torches carried by the guards.</p><p>Jumping from her broom, she glided silently to the center of the rooftops, where she gently landed on the snow and ducked. It didn’t take long for a path to the edge to become free, as three people weren’t nearly enough to patrol this place, so before long Diana jumped down and hung herself from one of the windows of the top floor.</p><p>With careful movements, she opened the window’s latch and peeked over the sill. A dark corridor, with no-one inside. Without a sound she slipped inside and closed the window behind her.</p><p><em>“Light going your way from the north,”</em> Barbara pointed out.</p><p>Diana didn’t reply, going south. This corridor was dusty and it clearly hadn’t been used in quite some time, but there were footprints signaling the guards’ routes. She rounded a corner into another dark hallway right as the light entered the previous one.</p><p><em>“More guards ahead. You’re surrounded</em>,” Hannah warned.</p><p>An unlucky situation, as the little hallway Diana had slipped into lacked any doors, and casting a spell in this dark would instantly give her away.</p><p>She reached into her ribbon and brought out the bottle with the fairy. The little fellow had been happily feeding on Diana’s shadow for months without having to do anything, but his help was worth the trouble. Diana made a sign and the critter bit a piece of her finger’s shadow before Diana slipped besides a small table holding a couple of vases. The fairy grew and engulfed Diana in darkness. If the guards looked carefully they’d notice the strange shadow, but…</p><p>As expected, when walking through, they didn’t even pause. The two sets of guards went right past Diana, and a few moments later, she was free, the hallway empty, and with a couple minutes to do as she pleased. In this case, she waited a few moments before making another signal to the shadow. It scurried away, almost as if scared, and disappeared.</p><p>Moving carefully, Diana wondered if this was going to be too easy. Just a couple corridors away were the stairs leading up into the tower. Chariot would probably be there, and if the others let her do the job, then Diana’s heist was assured.</p><p>She moved through the halls and finally reached the circular structure in the center of the building. The door was open, and the place fully lit from the inside. Diana cast invisibility on herself and slipped inside.</p><p>The tower was far prettier than Diana had expected. The walls had been painted with black, and on top of it gleaming patterns of colors spread through its insides reflecting the lights of countless torches. Paintings of what Diana assumed to be important members of the family hung at key places around the spiral staircase going down the rim of the structure, and the ceiling, with a trapdoor leading to the vault, menaced with a massive eye, which if she recalled correctly was one of the symbols of the house.</p><p>It was distracting enough that Diana almost missed the red-haired figure floating in the air, right in the middle of the tower. Or, rather, not floating: She stood on top of that Roomba she’d borrowed from Croix.</p><p>And the figure next to her.</p><p>
  <em>Akko?!</em>
</p><p>Flying on her broom, the brunette wore, for some reason, a Sherlock Holmes hat and a stupid monocle. <em>Is she trying to confront Artemis again? Or does she want to help trapping me, after our encounter?</em></p><p>Damn it, this was not the time to be distracted. Diana begun her path upstairs, but the invisibility wouldn’t last much longer. The fairy hadn’t come back to her, which meant it was still dealing with the locks on top. It could deal with physical things just fine, but magical locks were beyond it.</p><p>With just five seconds left of invisibility, Diana decided to run. Her steps were heard before she was seen, but she was already halfway up the tower by the time anyone shouted an alarm.</p><p>“Ahá!” Akko shouted and pointed. “There you are, thief!”</p><p><em>Seems like she’s mad,</em> Diana thought, not stopping her run. Akko went after her, and mid-air casted a spell. She turned herself into a long anaconda, jumping straight at Diana. <em>She wants to trap you.</em> Not the worst idea she’d ever had.</p><p>Still, it was a simple thing for Diana’s cape to move between them and make her bounce away. The Akko snake barely managed to become human again and not fall to her doom. <em>Gotta be more careful,</em> Diana cringed internally. She wouldn’t forgive herself if something happened to Akko because of her.</p><p>Chariot was moving closer too, but her hesitance was enough to make Diana understand she wasn’t sure how to handle the brunette either. Diana looked up, at that gigantic eye, and figured she still had a long thirty seconds of running if she kept going this way. She’d left her broom outside, so that was out of the question.</p><p>Time to be flashy.</p><p>She pointed upward with her sleeve, and from it came a small little grappling hook gun.</p><p>“Oh no you don’t!” Chariot said, pretending to aim a spell at her. She took just a second longer than needed to cast it—long enough for Diana to press the trigger and be shot straight towards the trapdoor at the top of the stairs. She cast a spell to invert gravity momentarily as she reached said trapdoor. The physical lock on it was done, and the fairy waited for her with what may have been a sorry expression… or not, it was really hard to tell if it felt anything at all. With a quick movement, she put it back in its bottle before looking at the trapdoor properly. A simple square, wooden, but painted over with the same pattern as the rest of the ceiling.</p><p>Diana <em>could</em> try to figure out the magical key, but it’d take too long to decode the spell. Instead, she opted for brute force. Quite literally: Enhancing her body as much as she could, and with her training over the previous months, she kicked the trapdoor a couple times. Good thing her boots and heels were made of a material that’d resist a road roller going over them.</p><p>One, two, three kicks. Akko had regained her wits and was flying straight at her, while under her Chariot moved somewhat slowly in her direction. A bunch of the guards that had been left behind on the stairs stood still, confused, clearly unused to this kind of ruckus.</p><p>Four kicks.</p><p>The trapdoor bulged, the sound of shattering glass and a pale green glow blinking out of existence told Diana she’d done it. She wasn’t too happy about the idea of having broken through the magic seal with sheer physical strength, but she figured the seal hadn’t been cast with a counterspell to physical enhancement spells, as they had always been unusual, even a millennia and a half ago.</p><p>Diana jumped down—or, rather, up—into the trapdoor, and then quickly undid the inverse gravity spell, twisting in the air to fall on her feet. She locked the trapdoor behind her, and a second later banging began. “Hey! Let me in! That’s so unfair!” Akko yelled.</p><p>Diana sighed, relieved. She lit her rapier and looked at the treasure room, round, with a high ceiling and stone walls.</p><p>It was filled with <em>trash</em>. There were a few quality paintings on the walls, and some items held in pedestals looked important, but the rest of the room was filled with piles upon piles of old toys, sticks, and some suspicious bags. Was that an empty plastic bottle?</p><p>“Surprised, Shiny Artemis?” A voice came from the dark. She turned, pointing her rapier at the center of the room—and there, holding a wand on his hands, sat Sven Seighin. He was a lanky man with black hair and glasses. He was… not as intimidating as he seemed to believe. And he was sitting on a small wooden box. It looked uncomfortable.</p><p>“I… did certainly not expect such a mess.”</p><p>“We’ve been storing possessions in here for generations. When we want something out of the way, but don’t wanna throw it away, we store it here. Do you understand what this means, thief?” His voice, deep and masculine, did not at all match his looks. “We do not easily let go of our treasures.”</p><p>Diana cocked her head. That wand he held… “You seek to protect the heirloom by yourself?”</p><p>“I’m a wizard,” he stood. “And as the only wizard of the Seighin family, I won’t let you take this wand.”</p><p>“So be it,” Diana pointed her rapier straight at his chest. “Sven Seighin, your family attained that item through dishonest means, taking advantage of the weakened state of the House of Cavendish to gain a historical Heirloom that is of no real worth to you. Hand over the wand or face my wrath.”</p><p>He smiled. “I’d do it, but you’ve already fallen in my trap!” he snapped his fingers.</p><p>A cage dropped on top of Diana.</p><p>She panicked for a second, but then she quickly realized something wasn’t quite right. She cocked her head at the iron bars and blinked. This wasn’t a magical cage. It was just… Just a cage.</p><p>Without thinking twice about it, she simply levitated the cage and put it aside.</p><p>“What!” Sven took a step back, clearly surprised. “You can lift something that heavy?!”</p><p>“You’re not very experienced, are you?” Diana took a step forward. “Hand the wand, Sven. Make it easier for us both.”</p><p>“Ok, ok… but first, grab this!” he reached into his robe and threw something at Diana. She crouched, expecting some sort of weapon—but what hit her on the face was… a rope. It fell to the ground. Doing nothing save for leaving Diana’s nose with an itch. “Uhm…” Sven looked at it awkwardly. “It was supposed to tie itself around you.”</p><p>Diana sighed. It was hard to get angry at this guy. He was like a child learning magic. It reminded Diana a bit of Akko, only Akko was funnier. “Like this?” she waved her rapier, and the rope came to life—moving like a viper in a quick attack and tying Sven’s ankles together, making him trip. He dropped the wand as he fell, and Diana simply levitated it and brought it towards her.</p><p>“Yes, exactly! How’d you do it?”</p><p>Raising an eyebrow, Diana dispelled the magic on the rope and walked towards one of the blocked off windows. Now that the seal was broken, she could easily destroy one. “You should go to a wizard’s school if you are to learn magic, Sven. Or at least get some proper study material.” She reached into her ribbon, throwing a suitcase towards him. He barely caught it as he stood. “And don’t forget: Belief is the source of all magic.”</p><p>She turned, casting a small explosion that blew up one of the windows, and after a wave of her rapier her Broom came to her, whistling in the night.</p><p>“What was that?!” someone outside cried.</p><p>“The tower! It’s coming down!” Someone else panicked.</p><p>Diana rolled her eyes. She jumped out, turning one last time towards Sven, who was still looking at her with astonishment.</p><p>“You won’t believe who I found in there,” Diana said.</p><p><em>“Oh, no, we heard her through the comms,”</em> Amanda replied. <em>“We didn’t say anything because you were focusing.”</em></p><p>Diana flew into the night, frigid air hitting her face. She took one look at the wand in her hand—A bit plained compared to the wands they used nowadays, with the snake being a carving instead of a part of the bigger wand. And yet, it had been the first wand to be crafted purely for her family</p><p>Carefully, she put it in her ribbon.</p><p>Her first heist in months had been a success. Somehow, it had also been sort of disappointing.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>You thought this was dead?<br/>Well you thought WRONG.<br/>I've been spending most of my time and effort into writing something else, but this fic is a nice way to unwind whenever I grow tired of that. I'm still a few chapters ahead in production, though, which is also a reason for the delay.<br/>In any case, hope you liked the chapter. Leave a comment!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you enjoyed this, and would like to see <i>some more of it</i>, consider <i>checking out</i> my twitter or contacting me through Discord!<br/>-Twitter: @BillErak (95% of this account is retweets of shitposting or gay stuff, check pinned tweet)<br/>-Discord Tag: VathýSkotádi#1696<br/>I'd really appreciate the <i>support!</i></p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>